fic: Blindsided (1/2)
Title: Blindsided
Author: stellarmeadow
Fandom: Hawaii Five-0
Paring: Steve/Danny
Rating: R
Summary: What do you do when your life gets hacked?
Notes: This one has taken a long time to write--it fought me all the way. Hopefully the result was worth it! Huge thanks to smudgegirl for all the cheerleading!
Steve stretched lazily, his arms tightening around Danny's body in the process. It was still a surprise, and a little disorienting, to wake up with Danny in his bed. He'd dreamed about it for so long that the reality of waking to it took some getting used to.
He was only too happy to get used to it. He looked forward to the day where, once in a while, he even took it for granted.
That it had taken the CIA bringing a building down on their heads, along with the Taliban to bring it about was a story he was absolutely sanitizing before he told it to Gracie's kids one day.
However they'd gotten there, he was grateful. He was also taking it one day at a time, ignoring the voices in his head that said it wasn't really real if nobody else knew. Nobody else needed to know. They knew. That was all that mattered.
He inhaled deeply, letting the smell of Danny soothe him back towards sleep. He'd just get a little more rest and then he'd go for a swim. Or maybe stay in bed for other exercise.
Danny stirred, his thigh moving between Steve's legs as Danny blinked up at him, his blue eyes bright in the morning sunlight. That was all it took to push all thoughts of sleep out of Steve's head. He smiled, leaning in for a kiss. "Morning," Steve said.
"Morning." Danny's voice was still rough with sleep, the sound of it going straight to Steve's cock. "I see you're--" Danny paused for a yawn, "up early," he finished, nudging Steve's half-hard cock with his leg.
"Sorry, am I boring you?" Steve teased as his hand slid across Danny's hip.
"Nope." Danny's hand gripped Steve's ass, pulling him in closer as Danny's cock brushed Steve's. "Not boring at all."
Steve grinned. "Oh good. Because if you wanted to sleep or had somewhere to be, we could stop."
"Don't you dare."
The phone was the most unwelcome sound Steve could've heard, but he couldn't ignore it, not when it might be a case--and with his phone settings this time of day, it couldn't be much else. He closed his eyes and rested his forehead against Danny's for a second before reaching behind him for the phone on the nightstand. "McGarrett."
"Are you watching the news?" Chin asked without preamble.
"No, why?"
"Shit. Steve...channel two is running a story on your mom."
Steve sat up. "What?!"
"Breaking news story about how one of Hawaii's own faked her death and has been living a whole other life."
"Hang on." Steve got up and hurried down the stairs. He could hear Danny right behind him as he turned on the TV.
"--just how Doris McGarrett managed to remain dead all these years, but sources say she's currently out of the country and refuse to elaborate. McGarrett, of course, is the widow of Detective Jack McGarrett of Honolulu PD and mother of Five-0 task force head, Lieutenant Commander Steve McGarrett. And now for the weather--"
Steve muted the TV and looked at Danny, who was staring back at him like he thought he might be dreaming. He heard a noise, and it took him a minute to figure out that it was the phone. "Sorry, Chin," Steve said. "I was watching the rest of the report. What did they say before that?"
"Not a lot. Quoted a lot of 'sources.' Kono texted me to say she's going straight to the station. I'm going to join her. We thought given the circumstances, you might not want to go."
Oh he wanted to. He just didn't think it was wise. Which was probably Chin's real meaning, he realized. "Thank you," Steve said. "Let me know what you find out."
"Will do." Chin hesitated. "Do you have any way to get in touch with her?"
"No, but I'll make some calls." Some being one. To Joe. Because he'd lost his only other contact.
"Okay. I'll let you know as soon as we find out anything at the station. "
"Thanks, Chin."
Steve ended the call and looked at Danny helplessly. "Danny--"
"I know." Danny reached up to squeeze Steve's shoulder. "We're not going to let anything happen to her."
"How can we stop it? She's been exposed, and while she's working an undercover op God knows where with who knows how little support? She could die in some foreign place and I'd spend the rest of my life wondering if she was dead, or just afraid to talk to me and never came back!"
Danny's hand stayed on Steve's shoulder, anchoring him. "Call Joe," he said. "Start there. We'll do everything we can, all right?"
Steve nodded, but before he could make the call, the phone rang again, this time with the Governor's number. "McGarrett."
"Commander," the Governor's assistant said. "He wants to see you. Now."
She didn't even wait for a response, she just hung up. "The Governor wants to see me," Steve said.
"Probably wants to make sure you're not planning to run off to North Korea."
It was meant as a joke, but it hit a little close. "I would."
"I know. And so does he." Danny rubbed Steve's shoulder a little before letting go. "You shouldn't keep him waiting."
"Right." Steve leaned in for a kiss. "I'll call you when I'm done," he said before jogging up the stairs to change.
***
Steve tried to call Joe from the truck, but got his voicemail each of the three times he called on the way to the governor's office. When he arrived, he was ushered straight into the governor's office without so much as a word from his assistant. The governor looked up from a folder on his desk, eyeing Steve gravely. "Good morning, Commander."
"Good morning, sir."
"I'm sorry to rush you down here, but I received information this morning that I thought you needed to see immediately."
"Sir, if this is about my mother, it's already on the news."
The Governor frowned. "Your mother?"
"The story on the news about her being alive." When he saw the governor's confusion, Steve said, "That's not why I'm here."
"No, though it makes this even harder, given your current situation." He tapped the folder with his finger a few times. "Maybe you should sit down."
Steve shook his head immediately. "No, thank you."
"Okay." The governor picked up the file and handed it to Steve. "This was delivered to me first thing this morning by FedEx."
Steve opened the folder. It took a moment for the lines of text to actually make sense, because he'd seen them before, just not in print. He'd seen them on his own phone. They were texts between him and Danny, texts that were...personal, in nature. To say the least.
Texts that the governor had now read.
Steve felt the tips of his ears burning as he flipped through the pages, trying not to think about the particularly explicit ones.
"I stopped reading a few lines in, as soon as I realized what it was." The governor's voice was soft, tinged with regret. "My people have already checked with FedEx, but it was paid in cash and the name and address of the sender is fake."
Steve nodded, swallowing against the bile in his throat. "What do they want?" he asked. Because there was no other explanation for this than blackmail.
"Five men serving life sentences in Halawa released from prison by five pm today, or they're going to send these to every news outlet in Honolulu." Steve both appreciated and hated the governor's continued careful tone. "Commander, you know I can't--"
"Of course not," Steve said, snapping his eyes up to meet the Governor's. "I wouldn't expect it or want it." He took a deep breath. "I am not ashamed of any of this," he said, holding up the folder. "If the blackmailer thought I would be, then he doesn't know me."
The governor nodded. "I'm not worried about a scandal," he said. "This state is supportive of equal rights for everyone. There will be questions, and comments, and some not-so-nice things said, though, you have to know that."
"I do."
"I would like you and Detective Williams to meet with my PR director today."
The man was worried about PR? Steve clenched his fists, ready for a fight. "I'm not putting some kind of political spin on this, sir."
"No one's asking you to, Commander. But she can give you some guidance on how to answer the questions so that Detective Williams' daughter is less likely to be hearing sordid details on the evening news."
The governor went straight for the jugular, Steve thought. Grace had been his biggest concern. He wasn't ashamed, but that didn't mean he wanted Danny's little girl reading these. "Can we stop it?"
"The story itself? No," the governor said. "But the content? I am doing what I can to ensure it doesn't get out through legitimate news sources once he releases it to the press. But if they go on the internet...."
It would be all over the place in no time. Steve closed his eyes, needing a minute to focus, to prioritize. "I have to go find out what I can about my mother," he said, eyes open again and focused on the governor. "Her life takes priority over this," he said, holding up the folder.
"Of course. Please let me know if there is anything I can do to help."
"Thank you, I will. And thank you for letting me know about this so quickly."
"Of course. I'll have Kyla, my PR director, call you. I know you need to take care of your mother, but please do your best to at least talk with Kyla today."
Steve nodded and turned to go before a thought occurred to him. He turned back to the governor. "Sir, I know HPD has fraternization rules, but...."
"Five-0 has special rules, Commander, I've accepted that, to a point. And from everything I've seen, whatever relationship you and Detective Williams have has made you excellent partners. I don't think breaking that up would do the state any good."
Something unclenched just a little in Steve's chest. "Thank you, sir."
"I hope your mother is all right."
Steve nodded one more time, feeling like a bobble head as he turned and strode out of the room.
***
Steve dropped his phone in his office and went straight to Danny's office when he got back to HQ. "Come on, we got a lead," Steve said, waiting for Danny to join him before turning around and heading for the exit.
"What'd the governor say?" Danny asked as he fell into step beside Steve.
"I'll tell you on the way." Steve paused outside the men's room, looking around before opening the door and pulling Danny inside. Before Danny could get the question out, Steve leaned in for a kiss, using the distraction to pull out Danny's phone and drop it in the trash can just behind Danny.
Danny was frowning at him when he ended the kiss. "Not that I'm complaining," Danny said, "but what was that?"
Steve shrugged. "I need a reason to kiss you?"
"To stop on the way to chase down a lead about your mother for one? Yes."
"You're right. We need to get going."
Steve turned and walked out of the restroom, hearing Danny right behind him. "You are a very strange person," Danny said as he caught up. "Anyone ever tell you that?"
"You," Steve said. "All the time."
He could feel Danny's stare on him all the way out of the building, but Steve didn't stop until they were halfway down the sidewalk to the car. He made a show of looking like he'd forgotten something, patting his pockets. "The governor had a blackmail threat this morning," Steve said, quietly, looking around carefully. "Someone dumped my phone. The threat contained a bunch of texts between us."
Danny's mouth thinned. "I'm assuming they weren't of the 'we're out of milk' variety."
Steve shook his head. "This combined with information surfacing on my mother..."
"It's not a coincidence."
"Probably not, no. I need you to go get Toast and bring him back so we can find out what equipment is compromised in the office and fix it. He can start with our phones."
"Wait." Danny felt his pocket, looking confused. "My phone is missing."
Steve nodded, pulling the keys out of his pocket at last. "I threw it in the bathroom trash so I could explain without worrying someone was listening. Mine's on my desk."
"So that's why you kissed me."
Steve smiled. "I'm only allowed to have one reason?" He handed the keys to Danny. "Make sure Toast checks the car before you leave his place. We don't talk about this anywhere we might be recorded until he's had a chance to clear everything."
"Got it." Danny twirled the keys around on his finger a couple of times. "What are you going to do?"
"Chin and Kono should be back soon. I'm going to see what they found out at the TV station."
Danny nodded. "I'll be quick."
"That'll be a first."
"Hey, this is so important I might even break a few speed limits."
"Oh, God, now I know we're in trouble."
Danny rolled his eyes, but his smile was warming before he turned and headed off to the car. Steve watched him go before he went back into the office.
***
Steve went back to his desk. The file from the governor was lying there, looking like every other innocent manila envelope they all had lying around on their desks, except for the part where it appeared to Steve as if it had a flashing neon sign on it.
He hadn't lied to the governor. He wasn't remotely ashamed of any of it. He and Danny were consenting adults with normal sex lives. DADT was history, and the governor had said outright it wasn't a problem.
But that didn't mean it wasn't a problem for Danny. Because while Steve didn't have anything to lose by these texts getting out, Danny had a daughter. It bothered Steve that Grace was going to have a hard time at school about this--he didn't kid himself for a second that she wouldn't--and if it bothered him, how much was it going to bother Danny?
And then there was the fact that whoever was doing this apparently wanted to get to Steve through the people he loved. It was his phone that had been dumped, his mother's life that was now in danger, his relationship with Danny that was about to be exposed.
The one thing Steve never wanted to be was a liability to the people he cared about.
Whoever was doing this had to be aware of that fact--though Steve was starting to wonder if there was some sort of secret criminal information stream that had a file on him with the first bullet advising them to go after his family.
So whoever did this to him didn't really have to know him that well, he only had to know enough to find out what made Steve tick. And to hack into Steve's government firewall protected phone and track down a lot of electronic info on government computers about a CIA agent.
There weren't a lot of people who could do that, and of those, Steve could think of one who would be highly motivated and skilled enough to pull it off.
Ian Wright.
He got up as he heard Kono and Chin talking as they came down the hall, meeting them on their way into the bullpen. "What did the station have to say?" Steve asked.
"A lot of legal mumbo jumbo about Constitutional rights and protecting sources," Kono said.
"And when that didn't work?"
She flashed a smile that reminded Steve of a shark. "When that didn't work, they let Chin clean all the evidence off their computers, while a particularly helpful intern collected all the hard copies for me."
Kono held up a thick file, carefully encased in an evidence bag, while Chin was putting a thumb drive into the computer table and pulling up info. "Their researchers had done such a nice job of organizing all the info that it seemed a shame to waste it," Chin said. "So I pulled everything off in nice, neat order."
He tapped away on the screen, and a series of document scans appeared, many of them with lengthy redacted sections. "Their head researcher said that the redacted files taken separately don't really tell you much, but when you put them together, it's a clear picture. Especially when you have a road map explaining how everything goes together."
Chin pulled up a document that laid out exactly how the files fit together and the wholly accurate picture they portrayed. It was jarring, seeing the story of his mother's deception and her activities before and since, including her current location.
Or what had been her current location; he had no doubt she'd moved as soon as the government found out about this.
"Did they agree to stop pursuing the story?"
"Not at first," Kono said. "But we explained about government agencies and laws and how having stolen government files on their computers was still illegal, even if they didn't steal them. And how the government might care less about prosecuting them if the station decided to cooperate."
"Good." Steve stared at the documents again, frowning as he saw something familiar in the corner, mostly buried under a death certificate. He brought it to the front and realized it was one of the pictures of his mother's supposed death scene from twenty years ago. "This was only on our servers," he said, frowning up at Chin. "How did this get out?"
Chin shook his head. "It wasn't only on our servers. Mary took the picture with her phone."
"And deleted it."
"And her phone probably had automatic back up and it's probably been lingering around in her phone company's servers for years."
The sheer amount of time and work it must have taken not to get all this information--he didn't doubt a hacker of this caliber knew how and where to find all this--but to sort through it and put the pieces together was staggering. It had to be someone really good and really motivated.
And while he had plenty of enemies with the ability to hire a good hacker, this felt personal. He kept coming back to Wright. Not that he was mentioning that just yet. Even if Wright was the best suspect, it didn't make sense to just focus on him just yet. And if there was a chance their offices were compromised, Steve didn't want to give Wright the edge in knowing Steve had figured it out, any more than he wanted to give the little shit the ego boost of knowing he was the first one Steve thought of.
"Kono," Steve said, "can you take the files to Fong? See if he can get anything off them, though as many hands as probably touched it at the station who knows what he'll find."
"You got it." She turned on her heel and hurried out of the office.
Steve frowned down at the table, looking at the picture of the bombing again.
"What?" Chin asked him after a moment.
Steve blinked up at him. "Hm?"
"You've got that look."
"What look?"
"The 'I've got a theory and I don't like it' look."
Steve shrugged. "Just thinking," he said, pulling out his phone. "See if you can find any kind of traces of anything on those files that will lead us back to the person who send them," he said as he headed for his office. "I need to make a couple of calls."
***
Steve called his sister to ask about her phone, because if anyone was listening, that's what they'd be expecting him to do. He didn't want to do much else until he knew the lines were clear, because he didn't want to give anything else up to Wright--to the perp, he had to stop thinking so definitively about it being Wright until he knew for sure--if Wright didn't already know about it.
He was toying with the idea of going out and buying a burner when he heard voices in the hallway. He went to the door to see Kono walking in with Danny and Toast. "What's up?" Steve asked, watching Danny's face for any sign of what they'd figured out.
"Toast just came by to see if he could test some new equipment on our systems," Danny said. "He tried them outside, but didn't see any weird stuff from the wireless systems, so he wanted to try the hardwired ones."
"Right," Toast said, his believability somewhere on level with a third grader in a school play. "I have this new software I built that tests for vulnerabilities on servers and I thought I'd give it a test run on Five-O's systems."
"He tried them outside," Danny said, "but didn't see any weird stuff from the wireless systems, so he wanted to try the hardwired ones."
Which made Steve feel a little better--at least their cameras were most likely safe. But Kono was staring at Toast with that look she got right before she threatened to maim someone in the rendition room if they didn't cough up a confession. "Sure, go ahead. Let us know if you find anything," Steve said as he pulled Danny's phone out of his pocket. "You left this here," Steve said, holding it out.
Danny took it. "Right." He looked at Toast, who stared at the phone like he'd forgotten his line. "Hey," Danny said, as if it had only just occurred to him, "does that stuff work on phones?"
"Yeah, let's try that first."
Steve followed them into the bullpen, shaking his head at Kono's inquiring look. Toast put his bag that Steve assumed had his equipment in it down beside the computer table and laid Danny's phone on top of the table. Toast removed the back and pulled out the battery, squinting at the bottom of the battery before putting it aside.
He poked around in what looked like the ordinary electronics board on the phone for a moment before his eyes went wide. He pulled a pair of tweezers out of his bag and pried something off the board and held it up, mouthing the word 'bug.'
Steve nodded, but shook his head as Toast mimed destroying it. "Is this going to take a while?" Steve asked, nodding at Toast to say yes.
"Uh, yeah, could take a little bit."
"Great. We're going to get some lunch. You can check our phones as well as the servers, and we'll bring you back some food."
Toast nodded, already pulling equipment out of his bag as he gave them his lunch order. Kono and Chin handed their phones over, looking confused, but not questioning anything yet. The four of them left the building discussing lunch as if there was nothing odd going on at all.
They were less than fifty feet from the building before Kono said, "What's going on?"
Steve kept walking, feeling Danny step a little closer, their arms brushing as Steve said, "My mother's exposure wasn't the only thing that happened this morning. The governor called me in first thing to let me know that he'd received a blackmail threat."
"What did someone find on the governor?" Chin asked.
"Not on the governor." Steve stopped and turned to face Chin and Kono, Danny still by his side. "Me. And Danny."
Kono's eyebrows shot up. "What?"
"Whoever this guy is, he dumped my phone, and he sent a bunch of texts between me and Danny to the governor threatening to release the texts to the press if the governor didn't release five convicted murderers from Halawa by five o'clock today."
"They had to know the governor wasn't going to release prisoners," Chin said.
Steve nodded. "I think that part was just to provide me with what they hoped would be personal embarrassment in front of the governor," he said. "The texts were, um...the content was--"
"The word you're looking for is 'sexts,' Kono said. "Pretty common word, boss."
"Uh..." Steve looked at Danny, who just shrugged. "Yeah. But how did you...."
Kono laughed, and even Chin cracked a smile. "Really?" Kono asked. "If you have that little respect for our observational powers, I wonder that you hired either of us, let alone kept us around."
Steve looked at Danny again, but he didn't look particularly bothered. Or surprised. Steve looked back at Chin and Kono. "It's that obvious?"
"Honolulu is full of honeymooners," Chin said. "We recognize the look."
Steve coughed. "Okay. Um...okay." He put that aside to deal with later. "So I take it that's not a problem?" he asked, though, because he had to.
"Seriously?" Kono said, and both she and Chin looked mildly offended. Well, Chin did. Kono looked like she was on her way to pissed. "It'll be a problem only if you don't let us plan the bachelor parties."
Steve choked this time, only Danny's warmth against his arm keeping him from turning and fleeing from this entire conversation. "We appreciate that," Danny said, nudging Steve with his elbow.
"We do," Steve added sincerely, giving each of them a smile. "So now that that's settled," he said, "while Toast figures out what else in our offices has been compromised, we need to figure out who's behind this and how we catch him."
"Him?" Kono said. "You think it's a him?"
Steve hesitated. "I've been trying not to focus on just one person," he said after a moment. "But I keep coming back to Ian Wright."
"The hacker you and Grover went after?" Chin asked.
Steve nodded. "We'll need to get Grover's phone and see if he's been tagged as well, but given Wright's little parting message to me at the ATM, I have a feeling it's mostly me."
"ATM?" Danny asked.
Steve sighed at that tone. He knew he should've mentioned that. "I didn't think it was important at the time," Steve said, mentally preparing himself for the lecture about 'communication skills' he would get later, complete with copious hand-waving. "Come on," he said, starting to walk towards the restaurant again. "I'll explain over lunch."
"So, do we get to see the texts?" Kono asked.
"No," Steve and Danny replied in unison.
"But they might contain important hints at who is behind--" Steve whirled around, fixing her with a look that made her eyes go wide. "Or not," she said hastily.
He didn't allow himself a grin until he'd turned away from her again.
***
"So this guy basically threatens you through your own bank account," Danny says, his voice rising with each word, "and you didn't think that was important to share?"
Steve looked around the restaurant to avoid looking at Danny. "No," he said shortly, looking somewhere around Danny's ear. "I'm sorry, okay? I misjudged him."
"Oh, you misjudged him?"
Steve shrugged. "It happens."
"You misjudged him," Danny said, "and now he may be behind an attempt to get five murderers released from prison."
"I said I'm sorry, Danny, what more do you want?"
"Oh, trust me, Steven, I have a list."
"You know," Kono said, propping her chin on her hand and looking like she was about to order popcorn, "this whole bickering thing makes a lot more sense now that we know you're actually married."
Steve glared at her. "We are not married."
"Really?" Kono said. "Because you sound like my parents every time Dad forgot to take the trash out."
"I'm gonna have to go with Kono on this one," Chin said. "You're pretty married."
Steve grit his teeth together, unable to look at Danny as he said, "Can we please just get on with figuring out how to catch this guy?"
"Right, sorry," Chin replied. "So, you seem pretty sure it's Wright."
Steve shrugged "I'm not sure. I just keep coming back to him."
"Of course," Danny muttered, "Because why wouldn't you, what with the whole he threatened you and you didn't bother to tell anyone thing?"
"You're not letting that go anytime soon, are you?" Steve asked.
"No. Because you're supposed to share, remember? Communication is not just a degree they hand out at college, Steven."
"Guys," Kono interrupted, "not that the lover's spat isn't cute and adorable, and on another day I'd prop my feet up and thoroughly enjoy it, but in the interest of catching this guy before your whole sexting adventure gets posted text by embarrassing text on every internet site on the planet, maybe we could get back to the case?"
Steve looked at her. "You're right. Sorry."
"So what do we know for sure?" Chin said.
"We know that someone dumped my phone--"
"You're sure it was yours and not Danny's?" Chin asked.
Steve nodded. "The names on the texts were 'Me' and 'Danno'. Had to be my phone."
"Okay, so that's one thing," Kono said. "What else?"
"Well, the whole world now knows my mother is alive," Steve said, crumpling his napkin into a little ball in his fist. "And considering she tortured someone to try to keep that secret..."
"Wait," Kono said, leaning in. "She tortured someone to keep her secret?"
Steve nodded again. "This guy from her past, Mangosta, he found her. My mother tracked him down and tortured him to find out if anyone else knew she was alive."
"And she told you this?" Chin asked.
"No." Steve cleared his throat. "Catherine did. She said Mom was clearly terrified that someone else might know she was alive, and was prepared to go to any lengths to find out if they did."
Steve didn't realize how tightly he was gripping his napkin until he felt Danny's hand cover his. "Hey," Danny said softly, "your mom is good at taking care of herself. Nothing's going to happen to her."
"Right. Because the CIA is such a great operation."
Danny couldn't argue that one, but he gave Steve's hand a squeeze. "Your mom is a great operator."
Which was true. Steve gave him what he hoped passed for something resembling his normal smile. "Anyway, whoever it was dumped my phone. And they either knew about my mother or had the ability to access CIA files that even I can't get." Not for lack of trying, either, but he left that part out.
"So that narrows it down to either government or a hacker," Chin said.
"Or someone with the money to pay a hacker," Kono suggested.
"So all we're looking for is someone in the government, rich, or good with computers, who's pissed off at Steve," Danny said. "Perfect. We should be able to interview all those people in, what, a month?"
Steve glared at him. "You're hilarious."
"Who said I was kidding?" Danny shot back, but his eyes were warm, and so was his hand where it was still covering Steve's. Steve glanced down at Danny's hand, marveling that he was so casual about it in a public place, given the situation. He'd half expected Danny to run at the first sign of exposure. Stupid, really, considering Danny never ran from a fight, but....
"Kidding or not," Chin said, "we need to narrow it down a little more than that."
Steve started to gather the trash from the lunch he'd only picked at. "Maybe Toast knows more by now," he said. "Let's go find out.
***
Toast was putting Steve's phone back together when they walked in. "Dude," he said, "whoever has it in for you is good."
"Great," Steve said, dropping the bag with Toast's lunch in it on the corner of the computer table. "That's comforting. I assume since you're talking about it that everything's...."
"Oh, yeah, not even the FBI could hear what we're saying right now. I cleaned your systems and your phones--yours and Jersey's anyway, nothing on the other two. I upgraded the security on all four of them though--that government stuff is a joke. Couldn't keep out a sixth grader."
"Also comforting," Danny said. "Did you find anything?"
Toast shrugged. "I found a lot of holes where someone had been digging around your servers, but they scrubbed their trail pretty good. No way to know if they copied anything, but I'd assume they did. Rest of the office was clean, so whoever it is must have been trusting the bugs in your phones to pick up anything they wanted to hear. Either that, or they had spyware on the office systems and cleaned up after themselves. I'm going to sift through what I found when I get back to the rest of my equipment and see if I can find any breadcrumbs, but I can't make any promises."
"Thanks, Toast." Steve took his phone and pocketed. "We appreciate it."
"Hey, better this than you asking me to go in and get myself killed again."
Steve raised an eyebrow. "Don't push your luck. Though now that you mention it, I do need a little more help, though."
"I'm not getting myself killed," Toast said quickly.
"I don't think you need to worry about that. We have a suspect, and if he's involved, then there's someone else who might be bugged, too. Can you check?"
"Sure. Is he here?"
Steve shook his head. "Chin, can you take Toast to see Grover then by your place?"
"My place?"
"Mine and Danny's phones were bugged--we need to cover all our bases, and that includes all of our houses, even if your phones were cleaned. So start with your house, then Kono's, then Danny and I will meet you at my place."
"Got it." Chin nodded at Toast. "Let's go."
As they were leaving, Steve turned to Kono. "Can you go check with Fong and see if he had any luck with the stuff from the station, then meet Chin and Toast at your place?"
"You got it."
She turned and walked out, leaving Steve and Danny alone. "You okay?" Danny asked quietly.
Steve couldn't help the harsh laugh that escaped his throat. "Yeah, I'm great."
Danny stepped closer, nudging Steve's foot with his own. "Whatever happens, we can handle it, okay?"
"Yeah, we can, but what about Grace?"
"Grace will be fine. You think she hasn't been teased before?"
"Teasing is one thing, Danny," Steve said. "Having kids recite our graphic texts to her on the playground is another."
Danny shrugged. "She'll be fine."
"Danny, do you remember what some of those texts said? Because I read them this morning and...." Steve folded his arms over his chest. "It's not the kind of thing kids want to associate with their parents."
"I know, babe," Danny said, "but there's nothing we can do about it. And it's not like Grace isn't aware that we sleep together, and as much as I hate to admit it, I can't kid myself she doesn't have some idea what that involves."
"So you're perfectly okay with it then?"
"Of course not! I remember what kids are like. It kills me, the things she's already had to endure. I'd love to lock her up and shelter her from everything."
Danny took a breath, visibly calming himself. "But I can't. And trust me, with everything Grace has been through, some kids teasing her on the playground about you and I texting each other is nothing. And I'll take her getting teased over kidnapped any day."
He had a point. Steve just hated the idea of being any part of something that caused Grace or Danny pain. "Denning wants us to talk to his PR person."
"He's worried about the spin on this?" Danny's tone said the answer to that better be no.
Steve shook his head. "That's what I thought, too, but he said he was actually worried about containing it so Grace might be spared some."
Danny blinked. "Really? Wow. I might actually have to vote for him in the next election."
Steve laughed softly. "Come on," he said, taking Danny by the arm as he headed for his office. "She's already left me a message. We might as well get the call over with."
***
Part 2
Author: stellarmeadow
Fandom: Hawaii Five-0
Paring: Steve/Danny
Rating: R
Summary: What do you do when your life gets hacked?
Notes: This one has taken a long time to write--it fought me all the way. Hopefully the result was worth it! Huge thanks to smudgegirl for all the cheerleading!
Steve stretched lazily, his arms tightening around Danny's body in the process. It was still a surprise, and a little disorienting, to wake up with Danny in his bed. He'd dreamed about it for so long that the reality of waking to it took some getting used to.
He was only too happy to get used to it. He looked forward to the day where, once in a while, he even took it for granted.
That it had taken the CIA bringing a building down on their heads, along with the Taliban to bring it about was a story he was absolutely sanitizing before he told it to Gracie's kids one day.
However they'd gotten there, he was grateful. He was also taking it one day at a time, ignoring the voices in his head that said it wasn't really real if nobody else knew. Nobody else needed to know. They knew. That was all that mattered.
He inhaled deeply, letting the smell of Danny soothe him back towards sleep. He'd just get a little more rest and then he'd go for a swim. Or maybe stay in bed for other exercise.
Danny stirred, his thigh moving between Steve's legs as Danny blinked up at him, his blue eyes bright in the morning sunlight. That was all it took to push all thoughts of sleep out of Steve's head. He smiled, leaning in for a kiss. "Morning," Steve said.
"Morning." Danny's voice was still rough with sleep, the sound of it going straight to Steve's cock. "I see you're--" Danny paused for a yawn, "up early," he finished, nudging Steve's half-hard cock with his leg.
"Sorry, am I boring you?" Steve teased as his hand slid across Danny's hip.
"Nope." Danny's hand gripped Steve's ass, pulling him in closer as Danny's cock brushed Steve's. "Not boring at all."
Steve grinned. "Oh good. Because if you wanted to sleep or had somewhere to be, we could stop."
"Don't you dare."
The phone was the most unwelcome sound Steve could've heard, but he couldn't ignore it, not when it might be a case--and with his phone settings this time of day, it couldn't be much else. He closed his eyes and rested his forehead against Danny's for a second before reaching behind him for the phone on the nightstand. "McGarrett."
"Are you watching the news?" Chin asked without preamble.
"No, why?"
"Shit. Steve...channel two is running a story on your mom."
Steve sat up. "What?!"
"Breaking news story about how one of Hawaii's own faked her death and has been living a whole other life."
"Hang on." Steve got up and hurried down the stairs. He could hear Danny right behind him as he turned on the TV.
"--just how Doris McGarrett managed to remain dead all these years, but sources say she's currently out of the country and refuse to elaborate. McGarrett, of course, is the widow of Detective Jack McGarrett of Honolulu PD and mother of Five-0 task force head, Lieutenant Commander Steve McGarrett. And now for the weather--"
Steve muted the TV and looked at Danny, who was staring back at him like he thought he might be dreaming. He heard a noise, and it took him a minute to figure out that it was the phone. "Sorry, Chin," Steve said. "I was watching the rest of the report. What did they say before that?"
"Not a lot. Quoted a lot of 'sources.' Kono texted me to say she's going straight to the station. I'm going to join her. We thought given the circumstances, you might not want to go."
Oh he wanted to. He just didn't think it was wise. Which was probably Chin's real meaning, he realized. "Thank you," Steve said. "Let me know what you find out."
"Will do." Chin hesitated. "Do you have any way to get in touch with her?"
"No, but I'll make some calls." Some being one. To Joe. Because he'd lost his only other contact.
"Okay. I'll let you know as soon as we find out anything at the station. "
"Thanks, Chin."
Steve ended the call and looked at Danny helplessly. "Danny--"
"I know." Danny reached up to squeeze Steve's shoulder. "We're not going to let anything happen to her."
"How can we stop it? She's been exposed, and while she's working an undercover op God knows where with who knows how little support? She could die in some foreign place and I'd spend the rest of my life wondering if she was dead, or just afraid to talk to me and never came back!"
Danny's hand stayed on Steve's shoulder, anchoring him. "Call Joe," he said. "Start there. We'll do everything we can, all right?"
Steve nodded, but before he could make the call, the phone rang again, this time with the Governor's number. "McGarrett."
"Commander," the Governor's assistant said. "He wants to see you. Now."
She didn't even wait for a response, she just hung up. "The Governor wants to see me," Steve said.
"Probably wants to make sure you're not planning to run off to North Korea."
It was meant as a joke, but it hit a little close. "I would."
"I know. And so does he." Danny rubbed Steve's shoulder a little before letting go. "You shouldn't keep him waiting."
"Right." Steve leaned in for a kiss. "I'll call you when I'm done," he said before jogging up the stairs to change.
***
Steve tried to call Joe from the truck, but got his voicemail each of the three times he called on the way to the governor's office. When he arrived, he was ushered straight into the governor's office without so much as a word from his assistant. The governor looked up from a folder on his desk, eyeing Steve gravely. "Good morning, Commander."
"Good morning, sir."
"I'm sorry to rush you down here, but I received information this morning that I thought you needed to see immediately."
"Sir, if this is about my mother, it's already on the news."
The Governor frowned. "Your mother?"
"The story on the news about her being alive." When he saw the governor's confusion, Steve said, "That's not why I'm here."
"No, though it makes this even harder, given your current situation." He tapped the folder with his finger a few times. "Maybe you should sit down."
Steve shook his head immediately. "No, thank you."
"Okay." The governor picked up the file and handed it to Steve. "This was delivered to me first thing this morning by FedEx."
Steve opened the folder. It took a moment for the lines of text to actually make sense, because he'd seen them before, just not in print. He'd seen them on his own phone. They were texts between him and Danny, texts that were...personal, in nature. To say the least.
Texts that the governor had now read.
Steve felt the tips of his ears burning as he flipped through the pages, trying not to think about the particularly explicit ones.
"I stopped reading a few lines in, as soon as I realized what it was." The governor's voice was soft, tinged with regret. "My people have already checked with FedEx, but it was paid in cash and the name and address of the sender is fake."
Steve nodded, swallowing against the bile in his throat. "What do they want?" he asked. Because there was no other explanation for this than blackmail.
"Five men serving life sentences in Halawa released from prison by five pm today, or they're going to send these to every news outlet in Honolulu." Steve both appreciated and hated the governor's continued careful tone. "Commander, you know I can't--"
"Of course not," Steve said, snapping his eyes up to meet the Governor's. "I wouldn't expect it or want it." He took a deep breath. "I am not ashamed of any of this," he said, holding up the folder. "If the blackmailer thought I would be, then he doesn't know me."
The governor nodded. "I'm not worried about a scandal," he said. "This state is supportive of equal rights for everyone. There will be questions, and comments, and some not-so-nice things said, though, you have to know that."
"I do."
"I would like you and Detective Williams to meet with my PR director today."
The man was worried about PR? Steve clenched his fists, ready for a fight. "I'm not putting some kind of political spin on this, sir."
"No one's asking you to, Commander. But she can give you some guidance on how to answer the questions so that Detective Williams' daughter is less likely to be hearing sordid details on the evening news."
The governor went straight for the jugular, Steve thought. Grace had been his biggest concern. He wasn't ashamed, but that didn't mean he wanted Danny's little girl reading these. "Can we stop it?"
"The story itself? No," the governor said. "But the content? I am doing what I can to ensure it doesn't get out through legitimate news sources once he releases it to the press. But if they go on the internet...."
It would be all over the place in no time. Steve closed his eyes, needing a minute to focus, to prioritize. "I have to go find out what I can about my mother," he said, eyes open again and focused on the governor. "Her life takes priority over this," he said, holding up the folder.
"Of course. Please let me know if there is anything I can do to help."
"Thank you, I will. And thank you for letting me know about this so quickly."
"Of course. I'll have Kyla, my PR director, call you. I know you need to take care of your mother, but please do your best to at least talk with Kyla today."
Steve nodded and turned to go before a thought occurred to him. He turned back to the governor. "Sir, I know HPD has fraternization rules, but...."
"Five-0 has special rules, Commander, I've accepted that, to a point. And from everything I've seen, whatever relationship you and Detective Williams have has made you excellent partners. I don't think breaking that up would do the state any good."
Something unclenched just a little in Steve's chest. "Thank you, sir."
"I hope your mother is all right."
Steve nodded one more time, feeling like a bobble head as he turned and strode out of the room.
***
Steve dropped his phone in his office and went straight to Danny's office when he got back to HQ. "Come on, we got a lead," Steve said, waiting for Danny to join him before turning around and heading for the exit.
"What'd the governor say?" Danny asked as he fell into step beside Steve.
"I'll tell you on the way." Steve paused outside the men's room, looking around before opening the door and pulling Danny inside. Before Danny could get the question out, Steve leaned in for a kiss, using the distraction to pull out Danny's phone and drop it in the trash can just behind Danny.
Danny was frowning at him when he ended the kiss. "Not that I'm complaining," Danny said, "but what was that?"
Steve shrugged. "I need a reason to kiss you?"
"To stop on the way to chase down a lead about your mother for one? Yes."
"You're right. We need to get going."
Steve turned and walked out of the restroom, hearing Danny right behind him. "You are a very strange person," Danny said as he caught up. "Anyone ever tell you that?"
"You," Steve said. "All the time."
He could feel Danny's stare on him all the way out of the building, but Steve didn't stop until they were halfway down the sidewalk to the car. He made a show of looking like he'd forgotten something, patting his pockets. "The governor had a blackmail threat this morning," Steve said, quietly, looking around carefully. "Someone dumped my phone. The threat contained a bunch of texts between us."
Danny's mouth thinned. "I'm assuming they weren't of the 'we're out of milk' variety."
Steve shook his head. "This combined with information surfacing on my mother..."
"It's not a coincidence."
"Probably not, no. I need you to go get Toast and bring him back so we can find out what equipment is compromised in the office and fix it. He can start with our phones."
"Wait." Danny felt his pocket, looking confused. "My phone is missing."
Steve nodded, pulling the keys out of his pocket at last. "I threw it in the bathroom trash so I could explain without worrying someone was listening. Mine's on my desk."
"So that's why you kissed me."
Steve smiled. "I'm only allowed to have one reason?" He handed the keys to Danny. "Make sure Toast checks the car before you leave his place. We don't talk about this anywhere we might be recorded until he's had a chance to clear everything."
"Got it." Danny twirled the keys around on his finger a couple of times. "What are you going to do?"
"Chin and Kono should be back soon. I'm going to see what they found out at the TV station."
Danny nodded. "I'll be quick."
"That'll be a first."
"Hey, this is so important I might even break a few speed limits."
"Oh, God, now I know we're in trouble."
Danny rolled his eyes, but his smile was warming before he turned and headed off to the car. Steve watched him go before he went back into the office.
***
Steve went back to his desk. The file from the governor was lying there, looking like every other innocent manila envelope they all had lying around on their desks, except for the part where it appeared to Steve as if it had a flashing neon sign on it.
He hadn't lied to the governor. He wasn't remotely ashamed of any of it. He and Danny were consenting adults with normal sex lives. DADT was history, and the governor had said outright it wasn't a problem.
But that didn't mean it wasn't a problem for Danny. Because while Steve didn't have anything to lose by these texts getting out, Danny had a daughter. It bothered Steve that Grace was going to have a hard time at school about this--he didn't kid himself for a second that she wouldn't--and if it bothered him, how much was it going to bother Danny?
And then there was the fact that whoever was doing this apparently wanted to get to Steve through the people he loved. It was his phone that had been dumped, his mother's life that was now in danger, his relationship with Danny that was about to be exposed.
The one thing Steve never wanted to be was a liability to the people he cared about.
Whoever was doing this had to be aware of that fact--though Steve was starting to wonder if there was some sort of secret criminal information stream that had a file on him with the first bullet advising them to go after his family.
So whoever did this to him didn't really have to know him that well, he only had to know enough to find out what made Steve tick. And to hack into Steve's government firewall protected phone and track down a lot of electronic info on government computers about a CIA agent.
There weren't a lot of people who could do that, and of those, Steve could think of one who would be highly motivated and skilled enough to pull it off.
Ian Wright.
He got up as he heard Kono and Chin talking as they came down the hall, meeting them on their way into the bullpen. "What did the station have to say?" Steve asked.
"A lot of legal mumbo jumbo about Constitutional rights and protecting sources," Kono said.
"And when that didn't work?"
She flashed a smile that reminded Steve of a shark. "When that didn't work, they let Chin clean all the evidence off their computers, while a particularly helpful intern collected all the hard copies for me."
Kono held up a thick file, carefully encased in an evidence bag, while Chin was putting a thumb drive into the computer table and pulling up info. "Their researchers had done such a nice job of organizing all the info that it seemed a shame to waste it," Chin said. "So I pulled everything off in nice, neat order."
He tapped away on the screen, and a series of document scans appeared, many of them with lengthy redacted sections. "Their head researcher said that the redacted files taken separately don't really tell you much, but when you put them together, it's a clear picture. Especially when you have a road map explaining how everything goes together."
Chin pulled up a document that laid out exactly how the files fit together and the wholly accurate picture they portrayed. It was jarring, seeing the story of his mother's deception and her activities before and since, including her current location.
Or what had been her current location; he had no doubt she'd moved as soon as the government found out about this.
"Did they agree to stop pursuing the story?"
"Not at first," Kono said. "But we explained about government agencies and laws and how having stolen government files on their computers was still illegal, even if they didn't steal them. And how the government might care less about prosecuting them if the station decided to cooperate."
"Good." Steve stared at the documents again, frowning as he saw something familiar in the corner, mostly buried under a death certificate. He brought it to the front and realized it was one of the pictures of his mother's supposed death scene from twenty years ago. "This was only on our servers," he said, frowning up at Chin. "How did this get out?"
Chin shook his head. "It wasn't only on our servers. Mary took the picture with her phone."
"And deleted it."
"And her phone probably had automatic back up and it's probably been lingering around in her phone company's servers for years."
The sheer amount of time and work it must have taken not to get all this information--he didn't doubt a hacker of this caliber knew how and where to find all this--but to sort through it and put the pieces together was staggering. It had to be someone really good and really motivated.
And while he had plenty of enemies with the ability to hire a good hacker, this felt personal. He kept coming back to Wright. Not that he was mentioning that just yet. Even if Wright was the best suspect, it didn't make sense to just focus on him just yet. And if there was a chance their offices were compromised, Steve didn't want to give Wright the edge in knowing Steve had figured it out, any more than he wanted to give the little shit the ego boost of knowing he was the first one Steve thought of.
"Kono," Steve said, "can you take the files to Fong? See if he can get anything off them, though as many hands as probably touched it at the station who knows what he'll find."
"You got it." She turned on her heel and hurried out of the office.
Steve frowned down at the table, looking at the picture of the bombing again.
"What?" Chin asked him after a moment.
Steve blinked up at him. "Hm?"
"You've got that look."
"What look?"
"The 'I've got a theory and I don't like it' look."
Steve shrugged. "Just thinking," he said, pulling out his phone. "See if you can find any kind of traces of anything on those files that will lead us back to the person who send them," he said as he headed for his office. "I need to make a couple of calls."
***
Steve called his sister to ask about her phone, because if anyone was listening, that's what they'd be expecting him to do. He didn't want to do much else until he knew the lines were clear, because he didn't want to give anything else up to Wright--to the perp, he had to stop thinking so definitively about it being Wright until he knew for sure--if Wright didn't already know about it.
He was toying with the idea of going out and buying a burner when he heard voices in the hallway. He went to the door to see Kono walking in with Danny and Toast. "What's up?" Steve asked, watching Danny's face for any sign of what they'd figured out.
"Toast just came by to see if he could test some new equipment on our systems," Danny said. "He tried them outside, but didn't see any weird stuff from the wireless systems, so he wanted to try the hardwired ones."
"Right," Toast said, his believability somewhere on level with a third grader in a school play. "I have this new software I built that tests for vulnerabilities on servers and I thought I'd give it a test run on Five-O's systems."
"He tried them outside," Danny said, "but didn't see any weird stuff from the wireless systems, so he wanted to try the hardwired ones."
Which made Steve feel a little better--at least their cameras were most likely safe. But Kono was staring at Toast with that look she got right before she threatened to maim someone in the rendition room if they didn't cough up a confession. "Sure, go ahead. Let us know if you find anything," Steve said as he pulled Danny's phone out of his pocket. "You left this here," Steve said, holding it out.
Danny took it. "Right." He looked at Toast, who stared at the phone like he'd forgotten his line. "Hey," Danny said, as if it had only just occurred to him, "does that stuff work on phones?"
"Yeah, let's try that first."
Steve followed them into the bullpen, shaking his head at Kono's inquiring look. Toast put his bag that Steve assumed had his equipment in it down beside the computer table and laid Danny's phone on top of the table. Toast removed the back and pulled out the battery, squinting at the bottom of the battery before putting it aside.
He poked around in what looked like the ordinary electronics board on the phone for a moment before his eyes went wide. He pulled a pair of tweezers out of his bag and pried something off the board and held it up, mouthing the word 'bug.'
Steve nodded, but shook his head as Toast mimed destroying it. "Is this going to take a while?" Steve asked, nodding at Toast to say yes.
"Uh, yeah, could take a little bit."
"Great. We're going to get some lunch. You can check our phones as well as the servers, and we'll bring you back some food."
Toast nodded, already pulling equipment out of his bag as he gave them his lunch order. Kono and Chin handed their phones over, looking confused, but not questioning anything yet. The four of them left the building discussing lunch as if there was nothing odd going on at all.
They were less than fifty feet from the building before Kono said, "What's going on?"
Steve kept walking, feeling Danny step a little closer, their arms brushing as Steve said, "My mother's exposure wasn't the only thing that happened this morning. The governor called me in first thing to let me know that he'd received a blackmail threat."
"What did someone find on the governor?" Chin asked.
"Not on the governor." Steve stopped and turned to face Chin and Kono, Danny still by his side. "Me. And Danny."
Kono's eyebrows shot up. "What?"
"Whoever this guy is, he dumped my phone, and he sent a bunch of texts between me and Danny to the governor threatening to release the texts to the press if the governor didn't release five convicted murderers from Halawa by five o'clock today."
"They had to know the governor wasn't going to release prisoners," Chin said.
Steve nodded. "I think that part was just to provide me with what they hoped would be personal embarrassment in front of the governor," he said. "The texts were, um...the content was--"
"The word you're looking for is 'sexts,' Kono said. "Pretty common word, boss."
"Uh..." Steve looked at Danny, who just shrugged. "Yeah. But how did you...."
Kono laughed, and even Chin cracked a smile. "Really?" Kono asked. "If you have that little respect for our observational powers, I wonder that you hired either of us, let alone kept us around."
Steve looked at Danny again, but he didn't look particularly bothered. Or surprised. Steve looked back at Chin and Kono. "It's that obvious?"
"Honolulu is full of honeymooners," Chin said. "We recognize the look."
Steve coughed. "Okay. Um...okay." He put that aside to deal with later. "So I take it that's not a problem?" he asked, though, because he had to.
"Seriously?" Kono said, and both she and Chin looked mildly offended. Well, Chin did. Kono looked like she was on her way to pissed. "It'll be a problem only if you don't let us plan the bachelor parties."
Steve choked this time, only Danny's warmth against his arm keeping him from turning and fleeing from this entire conversation. "We appreciate that," Danny said, nudging Steve with his elbow.
"We do," Steve added sincerely, giving each of them a smile. "So now that that's settled," he said, "while Toast figures out what else in our offices has been compromised, we need to figure out who's behind this and how we catch him."
"Him?" Kono said. "You think it's a him?"
Steve hesitated. "I've been trying not to focus on just one person," he said after a moment. "But I keep coming back to Ian Wright."
"The hacker you and Grover went after?" Chin asked.
Steve nodded. "We'll need to get Grover's phone and see if he's been tagged as well, but given Wright's little parting message to me at the ATM, I have a feeling it's mostly me."
"ATM?" Danny asked.
Steve sighed at that tone. He knew he should've mentioned that. "I didn't think it was important at the time," Steve said, mentally preparing himself for the lecture about 'communication skills' he would get later, complete with copious hand-waving. "Come on," he said, starting to walk towards the restaurant again. "I'll explain over lunch."
"So, do we get to see the texts?" Kono asked.
"No," Steve and Danny replied in unison.
"But they might contain important hints at who is behind--" Steve whirled around, fixing her with a look that made her eyes go wide. "Or not," she said hastily.
He didn't allow himself a grin until he'd turned away from her again.
***
"So this guy basically threatens you through your own bank account," Danny says, his voice rising with each word, "and you didn't think that was important to share?"
Steve looked around the restaurant to avoid looking at Danny. "No," he said shortly, looking somewhere around Danny's ear. "I'm sorry, okay? I misjudged him."
"Oh, you misjudged him?"
Steve shrugged. "It happens."
"You misjudged him," Danny said, "and now he may be behind an attempt to get five murderers released from prison."
"I said I'm sorry, Danny, what more do you want?"
"Oh, trust me, Steven, I have a list."
"You know," Kono said, propping her chin on her hand and looking like she was about to order popcorn, "this whole bickering thing makes a lot more sense now that we know you're actually married."
Steve glared at her. "We are not married."
"Really?" Kono said. "Because you sound like my parents every time Dad forgot to take the trash out."
"I'm gonna have to go with Kono on this one," Chin said. "You're pretty married."
Steve grit his teeth together, unable to look at Danny as he said, "Can we please just get on with figuring out how to catch this guy?"
"Right, sorry," Chin replied. "So, you seem pretty sure it's Wright."
Steve shrugged "I'm not sure. I just keep coming back to him."
"Of course," Danny muttered, "Because why wouldn't you, what with the whole he threatened you and you didn't bother to tell anyone thing?"
"You're not letting that go anytime soon, are you?" Steve asked.
"No. Because you're supposed to share, remember? Communication is not just a degree they hand out at college, Steven."
"Guys," Kono interrupted, "not that the lover's spat isn't cute and adorable, and on another day I'd prop my feet up and thoroughly enjoy it, but in the interest of catching this guy before your whole sexting adventure gets posted text by embarrassing text on every internet site on the planet, maybe we could get back to the case?"
Steve looked at her. "You're right. Sorry."
"So what do we know for sure?" Chin said.
"We know that someone dumped my phone--"
"You're sure it was yours and not Danny's?" Chin asked.
Steve nodded. "The names on the texts were 'Me' and 'Danno'. Had to be my phone."
"Okay, so that's one thing," Kono said. "What else?"
"Well, the whole world now knows my mother is alive," Steve said, crumpling his napkin into a little ball in his fist. "And considering she tortured someone to try to keep that secret..."
"Wait," Kono said, leaning in. "She tortured someone to keep her secret?"
Steve nodded again. "This guy from her past, Mangosta, he found her. My mother tracked him down and tortured him to find out if anyone else knew she was alive."
"And she told you this?" Chin asked.
"No." Steve cleared his throat. "Catherine did. She said Mom was clearly terrified that someone else might know she was alive, and was prepared to go to any lengths to find out if they did."
Steve didn't realize how tightly he was gripping his napkin until he felt Danny's hand cover his. "Hey," Danny said softly, "your mom is good at taking care of herself. Nothing's going to happen to her."
"Right. Because the CIA is such a great operation."
Danny couldn't argue that one, but he gave Steve's hand a squeeze. "Your mom is a great operator."
Which was true. Steve gave him what he hoped passed for something resembling his normal smile. "Anyway, whoever it was dumped my phone. And they either knew about my mother or had the ability to access CIA files that even I can't get." Not for lack of trying, either, but he left that part out.
"So that narrows it down to either government or a hacker," Chin said.
"Or someone with the money to pay a hacker," Kono suggested.
"So all we're looking for is someone in the government, rich, or good with computers, who's pissed off at Steve," Danny said. "Perfect. We should be able to interview all those people in, what, a month?"
Steve glared at him. "You're hilarious."
"Who said I was kidding?" Danny shot back, but his eyes were warm, and so was his hand where it was still covering Steve's. Steve glanced down at Danny's hand, marveling that he was so casual about it in a public place, given the situation. He'd half expected Danny to run at the first sign of exposure. Stupid, really, considering Danny never ran from a fight, but....
"Kidding or not," Chin said, "we need to narrow it down a little more than that."
Steve started to gather the trash from the lunch he'd only picked at. "Maybe Toast knows more by now," he said. "Let's go find out.
***
Toast was putting Steve's phone back together when they walked in. "Dude," he said, "whoever has it in for you is good."
"Great," Steve said, dropping the bag with Toast's lunch in it on the corner of the computer table. "That's comforting. I assume since you're talking about it that everything's...."
"Oh, yeah, not even the FBI could hear what we're saying right now. I cleaned your systems and your phones--yours and Jersey's anyway, nothing on the other two. I upgraded the security on all four of them though--that government stuff is a joke. Couldn't keep out a sixth grader."
"Also comforting," Danny said. "Did you find anything?"
Toast shrugged. "I found a lot of holes where someone had been digging around your servers, but they scrubbed their trail pretty good. No way to know if they copied anything, but I'd assume they did. Rest of the office was clean, so whoever it is must have been trusting the bugs in your phones to pick up anything they wanted to hear. Either that, or they had spyware on the office systems and cleaned up after themselves. I'm going to sift through what I found when I get back to the rest of my equipment and see if I can find any breadcrumbs, but I can't make any promises."
"Thanks, Toast." Steve took his phone and pocketed. "We appreciate it."
"Hey, better this than you asking me to go in and get myself killed again."
Steve raised an eyebrow. "Don't push your luck. Though now that you mention it, I do need a little more help, though."
"I'm not getting myself killed," Toast said quickly.
"I don't think you need to worry about that. We have a suspect, and if he's involved, then there's someone else who might be bugged, too. Can you check?"
"Sure. Is he here?"
Steve shook his head. "Chin, can you take Toast to see Grover then by your place?"
"My place?"
"Mine and Danny's phones were bugged--we need to cover all our bases, and that includes all of our houses, even if your phones were cleaned. So start with your house, then Kono's, then Danny and I will meet you at my place."
"Got it." Chin nodded at Toast. "Let's go."
As they were leaving, Steve turned to Kono. "Can you go check with Fong and see if he had any luck with the stuff from the station, then meet Chin and Toast at your place?"
"You got it."
She turned and walked out, leaving Steve and Danny alone. "You okay?" Danny asked quietly.
Steve couldn't help the harsh laugh that escaped his throat. "Yeah, I'm great."
Danny stepped closer, nudging Steve's foot with his own. "Whatever happens, we can handle it, okay?"
"Yeah, we can, but what about Grace?"
"Grace will be fine. You think she hasn't been teased before?"
"Teasing is one thing, Danny," Steve said. "Having kids recite our graphic texts to her on the playground is another."
Danny shrugged. "She'll be fine."
"Danny, do you remember what some of those texts said? Because I read them this morning and...." Steve folded his arms over his chest. "It's not the kind of thing kids want to associate with their parents."
"I know, babe," Danny said, "but there's nothing we can do about it. And it's not like Grace isn't aware that we sleep together, and as much as I hate to admit it, I can't kid myself she doesn't have some idea what that involves."
"So you're perfectly okay with it then?"
"Of course not! I remember what kids are like. It kills me, the things she's already had to endure. I'd love to lock her up and shelter her from everything."
Danny took a breath, visibly calming himself. "But I can't. And trust me, with everything Grace has been through, some kids teasing her on the playground about you and I texting each other is nothing. And I'll take her getting teased over kidnapped any day."
He had a point. Steve just hated the idea of being any part of something that caused Grace or Danny pain. "Denning wants us to talk to his PR person."
"He's worried about the spin on this?" Danny's tone said the answer to that better be no.
Steve shook his head. "That's what I thought, too, but he said he was actually worried about containing it so Grace might be spared some."
Danny blinked. "Really? Wow. I might actually have to vote for him in the next election."
Steve laughed softly. "Come on," he said, taking Danny by the arm as he headed for his office. "She's already left me a message. We might as well get the call over with."
***
Part 2