Fic: Malasada's H5Obigbang chapter 11
CHAPTER ELEVEN: Kahuna Ola
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He should be in pain.
He could feel the weight on his chest, see the blood gushing out of so many bullet holes he wasn’t sure there was any intact skin left over his ribs and abdomen. There was so much red in the dirt around him he could be swimming in it and to make that point more solid a sea turtle’s head poked up out of the thick liquid, blinking at him once before diving back under with a bubble and plop. He watched the pink hued bubble float for a moment before it burst and turned his attention back to his chest. There were slices of pineapple spread over him now, the holes where the fruit’s core should have been outlining the holes in his body.
“Always with the fruit,” Danny grumbled with irritation and Steve twisted to stare at him because he hadn’t been there a moment ago, Steve would have remembered that. “Fruit does not solve anything, Steven,” Danny shook his head at him and began picking the pieces off his chest and feeding them to the baby seal sitting at his side. He wanted to ask Danny where the hell he’d been but couldn’t get the words out beyond the pain he knew he should be feeling. The tightness in his chest was beginning to irritate him. Apparently Danny could read his mind though, because he flung the last piece of pineapple away, the seal diving off after it, and shook his head at Steve like he couldn’t believe they knew each other. His lips twitched with a smile though.
“Been busy hiding. A man’s got to hide sometimes Steven, if it means he gets to stay safe.”
‘I’ll keep you safe’ Steve tried to portray with his eyes, feeling a profound relief when Danny stuck his entire hand right through one of Steve’s bullet holes and into his chest. Danny would fix him, fix this pain that should be tearing him apart.
“Man’s gotta hide,” Danny shrugged and narrowed his eyes at Steven. “A man does what he’s trained to do. A man is supposed to breathe.”
“I’ll keep you safe!” Steve promised, wrapping his hands around Danny’s wrist, feeling his fingers tickle his heart. “I’ll protect you.”
“Not if you don’t breathe, babe,” he pried Steve’s hand away from his wrist and pulled a beer from his chest, looking at it oddly before shrugging and throwing it after the seal. Danny looked like he wanted to follow it.
“I swear,” Steve tried to reach out but Danny was already wading into the pool to meet the dolphin trainers.
“Right,” Danny called over his shoulder already distracted by the octopus he was about to ride away on. “I can’t wait for you to hold your breath forever.”
Steve woke up sucking in a lungful of air and jackknifing up on the couch so quickly he nearly kept moving to his feet. The only thing that stopped him was the large…excessively large mountain of a man staring down at him with worried, caring eyes that reminded him instantly of the seal Danny had been feeding. Jesus, he did not need to wake up to this. He leaned back into the cushions to give himself some space and narrowed his eyes at the man who remained far too close for comfort.
“Kamekona,” he awarded himself a motionless pat on the back for sounding calm and collected, “is there something you needed, or is this watching me sleep thing a new habit?” Kamekona narrowed his eyes for a brief moment before the sharpness of his gaze gave way to the more friendly, slightly slow persona Steve was more familiar with and shook his.
“You okay, brah? You look like you were trying to get somewhere fierce.” He moved back a step, giving Steve a little breathing room and an encouraging smile even as he looked him over with a little perturbed frown. Of course I’m okay! Steve wanted to snap at him, his still distracted mind jumping to the defensive as he was prone to do, but he managed to hold his tongue and sighed instead, flopping his head back on the couch.
“I’m good,” he offered instead, to which Kamekona didn’t look too convinced but he shrugged and sat on the opposite side of the couch, kicking his legs out in a stretch that took up a good portion of the walking room between them and Steve’s desk. Right, Steve was in his office. Considering Kamekona had a way of turning up in various locations Steve didn’t expect him, he could be forgiven for forgetting where he was, at least for the moment.
“Sure you are.” His concern was reflected in his eyes as the big man shifted, shaking the couch’s entire frame, “I must have just imagined you not breathing there for a minute.” Steve sighed, feeling more tired than he had after his mission in Ruvuma, Tanzania, where he hadn’t slept more than five hours during the entire six day mission. He looked out his offices open door to see Kono pacing back and forth across the main room, glaring at the wall mounted monitor.
“Just a dream,” he found his mouth admitting without his permission, “I’ll be fine.” On a regular day and under normal circumstances he might have been internally freaking out about being so honest to…well, anyone. He couldn’t muster up the energy to care right now: befriending a man who had grown closer to him than his own sibling after only knowing him a few months and then finding out said man was hiding the mother of all secrets kind of put things into perspective. What was a little truth among friends in time of strife, after all?
When he found Danny he was going to have to enlighten him on this profound revelation. With a large stick, if necessary.
“Yeah you will,” Kamekona decided firmly, “Once we get your kahuna home,” he hummed with a satisfied air of true belief, but Steve barely heard the conviction in his tone, instead tensing up tighter than a bow string at his friends words. Kamekona must have noticed because he gave Steve a curious little look, bordering on wary as he obviously saw something alarming in Steve. Seeing this Steve did his best to relax, unclenched his fists and dropped his shoulders a little from his normally alert posture to easy going, even if he was so riled up inside he could feel the heat in his throat. It was just a word, a title, obviously Kamekona didn’t know what he was saying and Steve was jumping to conclusions here, but he had promised he would protect Danny, even if it meant from friends, and he had no intention of ever dropping that ball again.
“What did I say?” Kamekona asked when Steve apparently still looked too tense, twisting his bulk to gaze at Steve in confusion and the sincerity on his face helped relax Steve a bit.
“It’s nothing,” Steve waved it off and Kamekona’s frown grew as he watched Steve intently. This was different, Kamekona wasn’t normally this intense, or this sharp, and it made Steve feel even more strained.
“You don’t like me calling him kahuna? It’s better than haole,” he defended, eyes narrowing and Steve glared right back, turning to face the man more directly and wishing they were standing now instead sitting side by side.
“Sure is,” Steve shrugged, trying (and knowing he was probably failing) at being non-chalant. “Just an interesting title to give Danny is all,” which was true. Kahuna could be interpreted as many things: a sorcerer, a priest, someone who excelled at their profession, but Steve had always associated the term with healers and therein lay the potential problem.
Then a light seemed to click in the big Polynesians eyes and suddenly it was him that was looking riled up and defensive, which threw Steve for another loop because he had no idea what the man was thinking.
“Maybe you’d prefer Kahuna Ola,” his big chest heaved as he breathed deeply and Steve tensed even more.
“What makes you think I’d prefer that?” he rebutted and quickly continued when Kamekona looked to respond. “Why would you call Danny Kahuna Ola?” Because what it amounted to was Kamekona declaring that Danny was an ‘expert’ at health and life. The last thing he was expecting right then was for the large man to suddenly huff a hearty laugh and clap Steve heavily on the shoulder. Steve refrained from breaking his arm, because despite this new dangerous twist he still considered the man more friend than threat. For now. “What’s so funny?” he growled and Kamekona looked at him like he was the dim one for once.
“You serious brah?” he asked and sobered a little when Steve just stared at him silently. Outside the door Kono had stopped her pacing and was watching them from a distance. “You have noticed the serious mana hanging around the haole right?” He said haole with an affection Steve didn’t expect and he narrowed his eyes more in response, hating being blindsided. “Of course you have,” Kamekona answered for him. “You think I wouldn’t notice something like that and start putting things together? You think I’d be a useful informant to you if I was so unobservant?” and now he sounded like Steve had hurt his feelings. Great.
“I think you’d better explain to me exactly what you’re talking about,” Steve ordered, and now he did stand, moving across to lean against his desk, crossing his arms, and glaring down at Kamekona. The guy looked slightly unnerved. Good.
“We in interrogation now?” he asked, and then shook his head in disbelief. “This is what I get for bringing you dinner,” he muttered mournfully before refocusing and spreading his arms wide in a gesture of defeat. “Okay, to be fair I didn’t notice anything at first, but a while back word started cropping up that people were getting fixed on the Island,” he looked to the doorway when Chin and Kono arrived and suddenly seemed hesitant all over.
“You can tell them as well,” Steve ordered and Kamekona actually shook his head and his lips pressed together in sudden unease.
“I don’t think I should,” he decided and Chin looked to Steve.
“What’s going on?” he wanted to know.
“Kamekona called Danny a Kahuna Ola,” Steve brought his team up to date and Kono raised her eyebrows in surprise. “He was just about to tell me why.” Chin thought about this and than met Kamekona’s eyes a long moment before Kamekona sighed.
“The only reason I’m telling you this is because I thought you already put it together,” he implored to which Chin nodded that he had, which seemed to be enough and the large man relaxed in his seat again before seemingly forgetting where he had been in his tale.
“People getting fixed on the island,” Steve nearly snapped with impatience and Kamekona nodded .
“Right. Fixed, like with little things. A headache here, ulcer there, hangnails up and disappearing and the like. Normally nobody would notice, but you know ohana,” he shrugged as though that explained everything and, even though Hawaii had grown so large and populated, it still did. “One elder heard about it and told another, and then a few more started asking around and a few more little unexplained healings came about and they decided that the gods had finally deemed us fit enough to be sent a healer. Thing is nobody had any idea who it was and nobody was stepping forward in the community.”
“This has happened before?” Steve asked skeptically despite what he knew. This sounded a bit too surreal, but Chin and Kono weren’t saying anything, instead listening intently, Chin with a frown. Steve was third generation Hawaiian, but that didn’t mean he’d had nearly as much cultural teachings as his friends growing up. He hadn’t had the elders, he hadn’t been completely accepted as a true islander. In a lot of ways he still wasn’t.
“Sure, like three hundred years ago?” Kamekona scratched his head as he thought about it and shrugged when he decided it didn’t matter. “My Tu-tu, she mentioned it and I got curious, because I had this problem with these warts that wouldn’t leave, you know? And I figured maybe I could get a little of the magic that was being passed around, right?” He blinked like this should be obvious. “Thing is I had nowhere to start looking and then one day they were just gone.”
“So your warts disappeared,” Steve pointedly did not want to know what kind of warts, “and you decided that it was somehow related to Danny,” because that was a little too coincidental.
“Well…yeah. Not right away though, because man that would have been too easy, but I couldn’t stop wondering about it, you know? So I started making lists and charts, took up an entire wall at home, before I finally made the connection!” He looked so pleased with himself Steve wanted to be happy for him, he just couldn’t find it in him. Not with the thoughts running through his head, because if Kamekona had figured it out than they were screwed. Who else knew on the island? His worry must have shown because Kamekona started looking real earnest.
“It wasn’t easy Brah, you gotta believe that I was doing this for months and I didn’t tell anyone, I swear. Not even Tu-tu. I just realized that the day the warts left was the same day you and the haole came around asking about Sang Min. I didn’t make the connection because I was looking for a local legend, you know? Didn’t even think about you two, but once I started it began making sense. Didn’t take long to figure out it was probably the Detective, seeing as the rumors began a few months before you showed up and a few months after he moved here.”
“That’s a pretty big assumption,” Steve shook his head. “You didn’t do much more than look at Danny that day and you think he’s got some mystical healing power?”
“Yeah I know,” Kamekona easily agreed. “I didn’t believe it at first either. Way I figure it, it was when he came back and demanded I keep his t-shirt that he fixed me up. I don’t think he even knew he was doing it.”
“I’ll say again: that’s a huge reach,” Steve rubbed at his eyes, wishing like hell Danny was right beside him to laugh this off, to pretend there wasn’t a chance in hell this was true. He really wanted to damage something right then, anything would do.
“Yeah I know, but get this: after you guys teamed up and became all buddy buddy” he leaned forward earnestly, “that’s when I really started to believe it. A friends cousins friends sister came in about four months after you started working together as a witness on that endangered animal thing you were turning over. Remember? She had a real bad sprain on her wrist, right?” Steve nodded, he remembered her, mainly because she kept trying to gain Danny’s attention by almost sitting in his lap, apparently not caring in the least that he wasn’t a local. “Well when she took the brace off that night there wasn’t even a bruise left. The Kahuna must have used his magic on her, see?”
“No, I don’t-”
“So I started watching him more carefully. You think it’s a coincidence that Kono there can ride the big waves again? Even the night before he was grabbed, I saw him fix up some guy on the dance floor. Boy was all hunched over trying to look like he was having a good time with his girl and the moment your man laid a hand on him he straightened up like he couldn’t believe the pain was gone.”
“Kamekona-”
“I know what I saw brah,” he looked steadily at Steve. “I know you know it too. No way you wouldn’t notice after practically living in each others pockets since you started working together.”
“Shit,” Steve rubbed at his eyes, took a breath, and pulled out his full Commander persona. Kamekona was straightening on the couch before he even said another word. “This is strictly classified Kamekona, understand? You can’t tell anyone about it. Not your mother, not your best friend, not your Tu-tu. Whatever it is you’ve decided you know about Detective Williams you will not breathe a word of it outside anyone in this room, ever. Am I understood?”
“Yeah,” the man looked taken aback, and then offended and he heaved himself up and out of the couch to stand face to face with Steve, brow furrowed. “I wasn’t going to tell anyone, the Haole’s secret is safe with me. I understand why he’s keeping it close to the chest,” he defended himself and crossed his arms.
“Really? Because I’m not sure you appreciate the full repercussions if this were to get out,” Steve got right into the big mans face, glaring his fiercest and feeling the furious adrenalin start to pump through his veins.
“Steve,” Chin’s calm voice cut through the anger and he deflated slightly before giving Kamekona one last warning glare and marching out of the room. Chin watched him go before turning back to Kamekona. The man was not looking very happy.
“I might be an informant, but I’m not going to go ruin a man like Danny,” he glared at Chin, daring him to say different. “He’s a good guy, cares about his kid, I wouldn’t do anything to damage that,” he said fiercely and Chin nodded in agreement. He understood what it meant to the informant, his friend, that a father be around for their kid. Initially the big guy hadn’t cared at all for Danny, just seeing him as another meal ticket to exploit, but the moment he’d seen him with Grace it was like a switch had been flipped. Danny could do no wrong after that. Come to think of it, the attitude change could have also been because of his hypothesizing over Danny’s secret.
“Kamekona,” Chin started, the severity in his tone getting the mans full attention. “The people who grabbed Danny knew he was Kahuna Ola.” The mans eyes widened in surprise but he tamped down on it quickly. “They shot Steve twice to force Danny’s hand and then took him while Steve was still recovering. They could be doing anything to him, anything at all. Hell, they could be selling him to some foreign government for millions of dollars to be turned over for experimentation. We just don’t know.” The mere thought of that possibility, of a government keeping Danny locked up in some lab, or the men who took him forcing him work for them… if Danny refused they might kill him, torture him, who knew what. It kept Chin awake at night and he knew Steve had a much more vivid imagination of things that could be happening to Danny, through knowledge and experience.
“No one should hurt the Kahuna Ola for their gifts,” Kamekona said slowly, shock at the revelation giving way to anger. The man was a lot of things on the island, but he had been raised by his Tu-tu and she had instilled a lot of traditional beliefs in him. Abusing what he might see as a spiritual gift to their ohana was not acceptable behavior for anyone as far as he was concerned. Chin figured Danny’s secret was safe with this man, so long as he was never physically forced to give up the information.
Kamekona looked beyond the door to where Steve was standing stock still, staring at an image on a computer screen and his eyes softened in understanding. “No one should hurt Danny,” he rubbed at the back of his neck and sighed, and than his eyes narrowed and he pushed past Chin and Kono and into the room beyond. Chin was expecting him to address Steve, he just didn’t expect what actually came out of his mouth.
“You looking for the Smith brothers?” the big man asked, jerking his head at the image of Bryce Smith on the screen and Steve’s attention snapped to him like a snake.
“You know him?” he demanded, posture tightening up even more and Kamekona nodded.
“I know of him. Small time looking to make it big, never stirred any big pots or anything, but I do know that he works exclusively with his brother and they live in the Kaimuki area.”
“You got an address?” Steve had a dangerous glimmer in his eyes which Chin hoped Kamekona understood was not directed at him.
“No, but I can find it. Give me an hour,” he ordered and started to move out. Steve made to move after him but Chin grabbed his arm, shaking his head at him as the muscles flexed beneath his fingers.
“Let him do his thing. He want’s Danny as safe as the rest of us.” Steve looked like the last thing he wanted to do was stay at the office, but he backed off with a nod and watched silently as Kamekona disappeared out the door. When the man was gone Steve’s shoulders slumped slightly but the intensity of his gaze when he turned back to the screen was still there.
“I don’t know how Kamekona knows what he does,” Kono shook her head and moved over to the bag of food the man had delivered what felt like ages ago, “but I am glad he’s on our side.”
“Mostly,” Chin agreed, looking at the picture of Bryce. They hadn’t been able to find a single thing on him in their last few hours of searching, but it looked like Kamekona would pull through for them again. He turned around to find Kono happily digging into the mostly fried buffet she had spread out on the back table. He noticed she was piling three paper plates high, one of them with the least greasy things she could find for Steve, and she did not back down when he looked like he was going to refuse it.
“Eat, or you won’t have the energy to go after Danny when Kamekona tells us what we need to know.” Steve took the plate and Chin did the same. Soon. He looked at the picture of Bryce Smith. Soon.
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It was half an hour before Steve’s cell rang, breaking the heavy silence that had settled.
“McGarrett,” he barked, already standing and checking to make sure his gun and the keys to Danny’s Camaro were on his person. “Right…you’re absolutely sure about this? Okay, thanks,” he hung up with a snap and started heading for the door.
“Kamekona says their apartments a waste of time, they cleared out almost a month ago. Paid up all their dues and didn’t bother collecting from a few people who owed them small change,” he turned sharply on his heal around the corner and practically jumped down the stairs to each landing in his determination to get moving.
“They went to ground,” Chin was tight on his heels.
“Makes sense if they were planning this move on Danny for a while. They wouldn’t want people to get suspicious of their actions,” Kono, despite being last out of the office was the first to reach the gleaming silver car and pull open the back door to slide in.
“Right,” Steve nodded tightly and barely checked for traffic before peeling out of the HPD parking lot. “Neither Bryce or his brother have been seen for weeks, which means that Eric Smith was probably the other man who took Danny,” a car honked long and loud as they blew past. Steve didn’t even appear to notice. The last few weeks he’d been driving Danny’s car with such care that Chin was positive the man had checked for scratches every night. As they flew through another orange light just turning red he figured the careful days were over. Finally. “Word is nobody knew the two had been hired to take down Danny, but they were looking for bigger game so it wouldn’t have been unexpected.”
“So if they dropped off the radar and their place is a bust, then were exactly are we headed boss?” Kono leaned forward to be between them, taking note of the streets they were flying down. “Only thing this way is water.”
“He got one lead, its sketchy but he thinks it might be legit. Guy named Earl at Pacificscapes.”
“As far as I know they’re not fronting anything brah,” Chin ignored the looks a bunch of tourists cast their way as they practically careened around a corner and the end of the street came into sight. A large sign with a sunset in the background and a yacht in the foreground boasted the name of their target and Chin had his seatbelt unbuckled before Steve came to a surprisingly gentle stop.
“I guess we’ll find out,” the smile Steve gave was anything but friendly and Chin didn’t miss how his fingers brushed over the handle of his weapon as he exited the car.
The boat dealership was located right on the water, a few docks reaching out had what looked like six boats moored in place, bobbing gently on the water. They bypassed the entire area and stepped into the main building instead. The showroom wasn’t overly large, which wasn’t surprising given the cost of realestate in this area, but it was bright and clean with windows lining the entire front of the building. Before them a long strip of floor was clear, creating an easy path through the building and lined with boats on both sides. There were various sizes and they were practically sparkling as they sat on their trailers, inviting people to explore them to their hearts content. The three members of Five-O barely cast them a glance as they moved up the isle, their sights set on the semi-circular desk at the end of the isle.
A young woman watched them approach, a polite smile on her face. She didn’t get a chance to greet them as Steve snatched the opportunity away.
“We’re looking for Earl. Is he in today?” At least Steve was making an attempt at being civil, even if it was obviously forced. The woman appeared somewhat uneasy.
“Yes, he’s taking a break out back, but you can’t go back there!” She protested as Steve marched around the desk, Kono right behind him, and through the door that separated the show room from the employee area. Chin pulled out his badge and flashed it as he passed her by.
“HPD on official business,” he explained, deciding he didn’t need to broadcast that they were actually Five-O. “We won’t take up too much of his time,” he flashed her a reassuring smile and followed his team.
“Earl?” Steve barked at the only man back there, who startled at the unexpected intrusion and smacked his knee on his desk. He grimaced and shook his head.
“No, but I can get him for you if you’d like to wait-” Steve moved on and Chin flashed the badge again, ordering the man to not interfere as they moved to the back door and pushed through it. By the time Chin stepped back out into the baking sunlight Steve had found his target. Chin wondered if the SEALs had had this in mind when they taught the Commander the true meaning of intimidation as Steve had crowded the mans personal space, practically nose to nose.
“Earl?” It wasn’t so much a question as an accusation and the clearly startled man let his cigarette fall from his fingers and raised his hands in what he probably meant as a friendly, joking manner.
“Guilty as charged,” he pulled out a charming smile and Chin could recognize it for the friendly salesman pitch he had probably honed over years in the business, and took a slight step back. “Can I help you Mr?”
“Commander,” Steve didn’t hesitate to throw his rank in there and Earl’s eyes widened in surprise, “McGarrett. Five-O,” he finished and reached into his pocket. He produced his phone instead of his ID and Earl’s gaze shifted warily to take in Kono and Chin’s presence as they stood to block him in against the wall, his adams-apple bobbed as he swallowed.
“I can honestly say this is a surprise,” he tried the smile again but put it away at the look Steve gave him. “Is-is there something I can help you with Commander?” He spread his arms out to wave towards the showroom behind him. “Are you looking for a specific model?”
“I’m looking for this model,” Steve thrust the phone into Earl’s line of vision, the picture of Bryce clearly displayed. “Perhaps you’ve seen it recently.” Earl matched Steve in height and was heavier in the shoulders, but next to Steve in this mood the guy looked tiny, hunching in on himself slightly as uncertainty quickly flittered across his face, before he shook his head and tried for sincerity.
“No, I can’t say that I have sir,” he took a step back and found the buildings wall. Steve followed him, moving right into his face. The air around them vibrated with tension and Earl looked to Kono with a pleading gaze. She smiled, all sunshine, and tilted her head a little in assessment.
“You sure about that Earl?” his eyes twitched at the overly friendly tone, quickly realizing that she was not the one to turn to for help. “Cause the Commander here? He really, really wants to know about the man in the picture.”
“Why would you think I’d know anything about him? I’ve never seen him before in my life!”
“You know, I think he’s lying Commander,” Chin put on his best bland look and grinned internally as Earl clearly began to look very, very uncomfortable. “I think he might even be working with Smith.”
“Is that true,” Steve snarled, his face betraying all his emotions, the heaviest one being violent rage. “You working with the guy who kidnapped my partner?” You didn’t have to know Steve to understand the intent to do harm that he was broadcasting. The look was more rare than his reputation belied, but it was a scary mother when it came out to play.
“No! What? Who’s kidnapped? I have nothing to do with it I swear!” Earl had paled slightly and there was no sign of his previous smile. He looked back at the picture on the phone, eyes jerking between it and Steve. It was obvious he knew something, and it was clear that he was beginning to believe they knew this.
“How do you know him,” Steve asked quietly, annunciating each word and slipping the phone back into his pocket.
“I don’t,” Early tried again.
“Maybe we should take one of these boats for a test drive boss,” Kono suggested brightly. “You think Earl here would like to spend some time out on the water with us?”
“Officer,” Chin addressed her warningly. “You know how hard it was to explain what happened last time.”
“Just a little ride,” she said innocently, and then smiled brightly at Earl. She was one scary woman. Earl tore his gaze away from her and looked back at Steve.
“How do you know him,” Steve repeated once more, a note of finality in his tone. Earl held his gaze for an almost impressive four seconds before running a hand through his hair and looking nervously towards the door to the building.
“Okay, I met him a few weeks back, but I swear I have no idea about your partner! All I did was sell him a boat, and that was that. I haven’t seen him since.”
“When exactly was this?” Steve demanded, backing off slightly now that he was getting the answers he wanted. It relaxed Earl, but only slightly.
“Like, almost a month ago. No more than four weeks tops.”
“Why didn’t you just tell us this in the first place?” Steve had backed off but hadn’t lightened up on his ‘I want to maim you’ glare.
“It” Earl looked like he was really regretting this now, “it wasn’t the most legal of transactions,” he finally admitted, and than hastily rushed on. “But I didn’t know him before he came to me about buying and I haven’t seen or heard a thing from him or his brother since. I just figured they wanted to do a little illegal fishing, you know?”
“What kind of boat?” Chin pulled out his notepad and pen.
“A Trophy, the 2302 Walkaround. Beautiful boat,” he ended weakly and his fingers drifted to his pocket before thinking better of it as Steve’s gaze sharpened. He eyed his lost cigarette in the dirt mournfully. “Good for the open waters, powerful engine, decent space…” he trailed off.
“Why wasn’t it a legit sale?” Kono asked now, faux smile long gone.
“It wasn’t registered,” which was a roundabout way of saying he hadn’t purchased the boat directly from the company that made it, so it was most likely lifted and he bought it hot and real cheap. “I’d only had it three days before they showed up and pretty much snatched it out of my hands. Paid seventy grand cash, no questions, and drove it away as soon as it was fully fueled.
“Did it have a GPS or EPRIB?” Steve was still staring at him like he was gum stuck on his gun grip.
“They didn’t want to buy an EPRIB and the GPS was removed before I picked it up.”
“What were the numbers on the side?” Steve demanded and Earl shifted on his toes.
“It wasn’t registered-” he tried to explain again.
“You would have put fake numbers on the side to avoid suspicion,” Steve cut off his bullshit answer. “What, were they?”
“I don’t know them off the top of my head, but I have a file in my office safe that has them.”
“Lets get them,” Chin opened the door and went in first, spotting the other two employees watching nervously from the far end of the small hallway. He nodded at them and followed the other three into what was allegedly Earl’s office. He moved to his safe in the corner and immediately retrieved the file. Steve took it, flipped through it and then nodded, handing it off to Kono, and then getting right back into Earl’s personal space, this time trapping him up against a potted cactus. Earl yelped and froze in place, wide eyes staring at Steve uncertainly and with a hint of pain.
“I find out you’re lying to me, about anything, and we’re going to have more than words to share next time. You understand?” He asked softly, and Earl nodded quickly.
“I’m not lying, not leaving anything out, I swear!” It was enough for Steve and he was moving out of the office and no doubt back to the car a moment later. Earl looked stunned as Kono followed him. “That’s it?” He asked Chin just before he left as well and Chin turned back, making sure he looked as unimpressed as he felt.
“Consider this your lucky day,” he warned darkly. “We find out you’re dealing any more unregistered vehicles and you won’t have the opportunity to drive anything again for a long time. Understood?”
“Absolutely!” Earl, who still had no last name, nodded with such enthusiasm it nearly gave Chin a headache. “I learned my lesson! Never again, no way in hell, you have my word.”
“We’ll see what it’s worth,” Chin followed his teammates back to the car, nodding a polite goodbye to the other employees. Steve already had the Camaro purring when he slid into the passenger seat.
They were silent for a long moment, none easy with the fact that they hadn’t taken Earl in for his crimes. Chances were they could probably get information from him that would tie them to who knew how many theft rings, but they had to play their cards carefully now. They couldn’t risk taking Earl in, because then they’d have to document his connection to the case and until they knew where Danny was and how they were going to get him back they couldn’t risk it. They didn’t have a plan of action yet, but their top priority was clear: keep Danny safe. Keeping Danny safe meant keeping his secret safe, which meant playing by a few new rules that were not necessarily by the book.
It still settled heavily between them.
“Think we can track the un-registered registry numbers?” Kono asked from the back seat, frowning down at her phone.
“It’s going to be near impossible. We’ll need access to satellite feeds from the night Danny was grabbed.”
“They store those in an accessible place?” She wanted to know, which was a fair question. Obviously Steve couldn’t call up Catherine and ask her to do a broad search of the entire ocean, both because her access was in real time and it was an impossibly large area to cover without general co-ordinates. For her to access the stored imagery she’d have to sign into the system and her search would become officially logged.
“Chin?” Steve spared him a quick glance away from the road.
“We can’t officially request them without having to answer questions down the road,” which would affect their whole ‘solve first figure out what to show to the world later’ ideals for Danny. “But there are thousands of satellites in orbit, there must be at least one or two that were recording images as they passed by when Danny was taken.”
“Even at night?”
“That is one problem,” Chin nodded. “Depending on the satellite we might be able to get an image regardless, but I don’t know of any open-source companies that we could get the information from, and I don’t have the correct skillset to find them online. At least not in the next five months.” Steve was silent for a long moment before he abruptly made a lane change that took them away from headquarters.
“Toast?” Chin asked with approval.
“Toast.” Steve agreed. They were silent for a moment.
“The hacker with a perpetual case of munchies right?” Kono softly reminded them from the back. Steve grunted agreement and made another unexpected turn.
“Grocery store and then Toast,” he clarified when Chin raised an eyebrow in question. Okay, this was good, they could work with this. They were finally getting somewhere.
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Chapter 12
Masterpost