Authors:
There is a point where you stop thinking about the clock, you stop thinking about the aches in your body from forcing your body into an unnatural position for so long, you stop thinking about how tired and mentally worn out you are. And when you reach that point the only thing you have left is will and determination and you hope that it will be enough to see things through to end.

Danny Williams had reached the point. He was going to disarm this bomb and nothing was going to stop him.



Standing on the deck of the Morning's Light, Steve watched those passing by on the dock as he awaited his orders. He know that he needed to concentrate on the dangerous task at hand but he couldn't stop his thoughts from dwelling on the phone call. What had happened to Five-O in his absence? What had caused Danny and Kono to leave? Instead of saving this case, would his decision to fake his death ultimately ruin it?

Steve knew that he could speculate forever and he'd have four long days at sea to consider and reconsider every possibility, but he had chosen his path and now he had no choice but to see it through to the end.

"John!"

Remembering his alias and recognizing the voice, Steve turned to see Billy, one of the cargo loaders he had been working with, approaching him. The Englishmen leaned against the rail with hands in his pockets as he gave Steve an inquiring look. "I'm surprised you decided to sign on."

Knowing that Billy was referring to the conversation that they had when the girl had gotten loose, Steve knew that he had to answer carefully. "I need to get back to the States." Then faking a grin, Steve added, "Besides a friend once told me that sometimes it is better not to ask questions."

Billy laughed as he recognized his own words being thrown back at him. However, their conversation was ended when the first mate walked on deck and started shouting in several languages, "Stations! We're casting off."

This was it. By the end of this journey, Steve would know whether or not he had made the right decision.



Detective Malik bin Aban noticed the worry on Danny's face and asked, "What is the problem?"

"Black told us the truth and figured that because they told us it was true that we would never suspect him of being behind the plot."

"So you trusted this man?"

"Yes and no," Danny replied honestly. "We didn't trust his methods but when the evidence showed that this organization was real, we trusted that he was telling us the truth."

"But why would he alert you to the presence of this organization if he was behind it?"

"Because it scattered Five-O. Steve came to Singapore where he was killed and his replacement, Alexander Zar, was suggested by the FBI. Zar got rid of me and another detective which gives Da Shu an opening to move into Honolulu." As Danny spoke, his worry for Chin increased. If he was right then Chin would be an obstacle that Zar would have to get rid of!

Malik nodded to show that he understood. "Then our next step is to discover the next ship being used smuggle goods out of this city and stop it before it leaves port."

"Agreed."

The two detectives rose and Malik motioned for Danny to come with him and they drove to the local port authority. Together they poured over logs of ships, marking any probables.

"There!" Malik pointed to a name on the list. "The Morning Light. Her listed cargo is luxury goods and her next port of call is Honolulu. She is scheduled to leave from the right docks in less than an hour."

"Let's go," Danny said, already halfway out the door.

Malik drove quickly through the streets as he made his way to the docks. The city was both bigger and more confusing than Danny had imagined; he was glad to have found a local partner. Malik called for back-up and two other cars joined them as they parked a short walking distance from the docks.

Exciting the car, Malik announced, "If we go over there they will recognize that we are police. Do we want to do this?"

Danny nodded and saw that the men who had joined them felt the same way. They hurried over to the correct pier only to see that their target had cast off. Looking out to sea, Danny spotted her only a couple of miles out and pointed.

Malik eyes followed Danny's hand. "We can see if we can catch her before she hits international waters."

"No," Danny replied, "we know where she's headed. We'll set the trap there."

Frustrated that had come so close and was again left empty-handed, Danny knew that he would never give up. He had no choice; otherwise he would watch Honolulu be turned into a slave market.

And this time no one was going to get in his way.



Under the cover of darkness, Chin snuck into his own office with Ben Kokua accompanying him. Not that it was very difficult when he had a key and had simply waved at the security guard on his way in but that didn't lessen the risk. Zar could not discover that he had done this. Not when Chin was supposed to off active duty for the next two weeks with a high ankle sprain.

"Where do we start?"

Chin held up a key to Steve's former desk. "Danny gave me his set when he left. I don't think Zar knows there's a copy."

Smiling, Ben let Chin lead the way into the big office. Sitting in the chair behind the desk, Chin unlocked the drawer that Steve used to keep his most sensitive documents out of hope that Zar would do the same.

Pulling out a two files, Chin handed one to Ben as he leafed through the other, taking great care to keep everything in the order he had found it.

Quickly, Chin realized that this was going to be harder then he thought. His files were lists of abbreviations and dates and writing that didn't give a clear idea as to what Zar was referring to. When he compared his file to Ben's, he discovered more of the same. They would need days with Che to decode these things and they didn't have that amount of time. Chin had hoped to come out of this office with further proof of Zar's corruption tonight.

"Found something," Ben announced. He pointed to a date that had a note scribbled next to it and read, "Informed the rat that the cats are clear. Send next shipment of cheese."

The rat. Da Shu. They had their connection.

"That date is the day after Danny and Kono left," Chin stated.

"Is it enough?" Ben asked.

"It's a start. Jenny's testimony will get us an arrest, this note here will send Internal Affairs looking in the right direction. Let's go in case Zar decides to take a leaf out of Steve's book and come to work in the middle of the night."

Twenty-five minutes later, Chin and Ben parked outside of the main Honolulu police station. Grabbing his crutches to maintain the ruse for the officers wandering around, Chin and Ben entered the building and made their way to Duke's office.

Duke looked up as they entered and sat down. Chin answered the unasked question, "We found papers connecting Zar to Da Shu and probably a lot more once we put Che to work decoding them."

"I learned something new as well," Duke said. "Zar never worked for the Atlanta Police Department."

Chin looked confused. "I know Danny called to check when the issues first appeared."

"I spoke with some of the officers on the force; I suspect Danny only went through official channels who were instructed to provide an official cover."

"By who?" Ben asked.

"Peter Black," Chin theorized, "this whole mess started with him."

Ben leaned back in his chair. "The real question is when do we go to the Governor?"

"I'm ready to go as soon as the sun rises," Duke said, "but I'm expecting a call from Jonathan Kaye and I want to hear he has to say first."

"Why? We have all the proof we need to arrest Zar," Ben argued.

"Because Kaye's been involved from the beginning," Chin reasoned, "and we're with dealing a corrupt or rogue FBI agent and criminals masquerading as detectives. I don't think Kaye stopped being involved when Steve died. Who has made or has given his approval to most of these changes in Five-O?"

"The Governor," Ben answered, his brow furrowed in thought. "He's always been careful with the safety of this state before."

"And he's put the safety of Hawaii into Kaye's hands before," Duke added.

As if on cue the phone rang. Duke picked it up and then put the call on speaker. "Jonathan, its Duke. I'm here with Chin Ho Kelly and Ben Kokua."

"Aloha," Jonathan said. "I want you to meet FBI Director Richard Vance."

"Hello," said an unfamiliar voice that Chin assumed was Vance.

Almost being killed a couple hours ago made Chin impatient with all the pleasantries so he got straight to the point. "Jonathan, we have a major problem."

"Only one?" Kaye piped before he got serious. "Before you ask, yes, I am aware of Zar but I think you need to know how he got the position he has first. When I heard that the FBI through Black was pressuring Governor Jameson, I decided that it was time to contact Director Vance and we did some digging on Black. Richard?"

"Black has been with the agency for thirty years with no problems. But he made some risky investments and lost all of his savings last year. The fallout included a divorce with his wife taking most of what was left in the divorce settlement. Six months ago he was working a case in East Asia and we have since learned that during this time Black was approached by Da Shu and I suspect was given an offer that he couldn't refuse."

Money. Chin shook his head in disgust. So many times corruption and evil went back to the fact that people thought they needed to be richer than they were.

"Why the charade? If you know he's crooked why haven't you stepped in?" Ben asked.

"We want Da Shu," the director stated firmly. "We will deal with Black in the proper time and place but we weren't going to pass up this chance to capture an important crime lord."

"Yet you choose to keep everyone in the dark," Chin stated with a hint of bitterness entering his voice. He had almost died because of all the secrets.

"The Governor knew some of it but we couldn't risk anyone letting what they knew slip or we'd be back to square one. We needed your reactions to be natural."

Chin shot Duke an exasperated look. Their reactions had been natural but they had resulted in both Kono and Danny leaving Five-O.

Kaye continued, "We believe that if you can gain control of the next shipment of girls we'll have the evidence we need to find Da Shu and end his operations for good. There a man by the name of Xu Qiang who is in charge of protecting the slaves they're smuggling. If you can capture him alive, he can lead us to Da Shu."

Ben didn't look happy. "If you didn't trust us before why are you telling us the truth now?"

"Because we need your help," Kaye replied honestly. "We can't do this without support on the ground."

Chin exchanged glances with his friends and they all nodded to show that while they were not happy they were willing to go along with this plan. "Agreed. We know that the next load of girls is expected to arrive on Friday but we don't know much more."

"Then I have good news to report. Dan Williams, working with the Singapore police, discovered that your ship is the Morning's Light." Kaye then listed off a registration number which Chin wrote down.

Ben looked surprised and worried; Danny had been a good friend of his ever since their days in HPD together. "Danny's in Singapore!"

"Yes, but he's scheduled to fly back to Hawaii and should arrive in Honolulu late Thursday."

Chin and Duke exchanged a look. If Danny returned they both knew that he'd want to be involved but, with his badge revoked, there wasn't much that Danny was going to be able to do. Chin knew that it would drive the former detective crazy if he has forced to remain on the side lines while the rest of them risked their lives to bring this case to a close.

But Chin didn't see what other option they had. Everyone had been forced to make difficult decisions to get the information they needed to solve this case but all of those choices came with consequences that would not be easily undone.



"Morning, Boss," Mary Seonu said cheerfully as he set a folder on Kono's desk. "Got an ID on our victim but there's one problem: he showed up for work this morning."

Kono opened the folder and saw information on a James Konst who was a twenty year old member of the Coast Guard from Seattle. "How positive is da ID?"

"One-hundred percent."

Looking at Derrick Nelson, Kono asked, "Is da name on da list of permits."

After quickly scanning the list in front him, Derrick replied, "No."

Kono nodded. "Da autopsy report says our victim was killed eleven days ago and da lab reports dat da body was dumped."

Derrick spoke up. "Then it's doubtful we'll find our doer on the permit list. I talked to some of the Park Rangers and they said that trail is difficult. If someone was dumping a body they would had to have arrived by boat."

"Still check da list," Kono ordered. "One of our hikers might remember seeing a boat." Looking back at Mary, Kono said, "You said dat Coast Guard isn't aware dat Konst is missing?"

"No, according to their records he's on active duty on a cutter. His commanding officer is going to call in about twenty minutes."

"Did ya get any information about da cutter Konst is assigned to?"

"The USCGC Olson, commanded by Captain Charles Bost." Mary handed Kono a list of the Olson's current patrol schedule and route.

Looking at the paper, Kono dismissed his detectives and began to read it closely. It was looking like whoever had killed Konst did so to take his place on the cutter but why?

The Coast Guard patrolled Hawaii to maintain the safety of the harbors, to rescue those in trouble at sea, but they also were the front line against modern day pirates, smugglers who tried to bring anything illegal into American territory.

Thinking fast, Kono pulled out a detailed map of the waterways around the Islands and began to trace the Olson's route and noticed that the bulk of her time patrolling the Kauai Channel, the stretch of water that separated Kauai and Oahu. Most ships coming from Asia entered Honolulu by crossing the southern part of the channel. Suddenly, a possible motive hit for Konst's murder hit the Hawaiian.

Shaking his head, Kono told himself that it had to be coincidence. It wasn't possible that he could get a break on human smuggling case while in Kauai, was it?

But Kono was still in contact with Chin and he had heard that the next shipment of slaves was scheduled to arrive Friday afternoon. Double checking the schedule, he saw that the Olson would be on patrol in the channel during that time frame.

It seemed absurd, but the more Kono thought about it the more his gut told him that Konst's murder was connected to what was going on in Honolulu. So when Captain Bost called, the detective quickly explained the situation and then asked one question, "Do ya have room for one more?"