Authors:
Danny’s stomach was in knots as he sat silently in the front seat of Kaiko’s van at a little after midnight. The punk’s determination to strip McGarrett’s car was firm and Danny had no choice but to assist in this crazy caper if he wanted to keep Kaiko’s trust.

Kaiko motioned for him to wait in the van while he left to look at the cars next to the apartment complex that the Hawaiian said was McGarrett’s. After fifteen minutes, Kaiko returned and said, “Da car’s ain’t here.”

Danny wanted to scream halleluiah; to strip McGarrett’s car was an insane idea and if they couldn’t find the car he would be off the hook. Hiding his hopes, Danny calmly asked, “You think we’re at the right place?”

Kaiko frowned as he checked his surroundings. “Yeah, I bet da fuzz’s workin’ late.”

“So?”

“We wait, Bruddah.”

Settling into a more comfortable position, Danny took up a silent watch of the parking lot and tried not to think what would happened if McGarrett found them. As the minutes ticked past, Danny’s worries lessened and he became convinced that they had the wrong apartment complex. However, Kaiko’s stubbornness was rewarded when he saw a black mercury sedan pull into an empty parking spot a little over an hour later. Danny held his breathe as the unmistakable figure of McGarrett exited from the car and walked into the building. Kaiko started to move after a few minutes but Danny grabbed his arm and pointed to window on the fourth floor. “That light just came on. I bet it’s the cop’s. We should wait until he goes to bed.”

Kaiko nodded and when the light went dark they struck.

Fifteen minutes later Danny could safely breathe again. He was trying his hardest not to think about what he had just done as the van moved slowly away from McGarrett’s apartment. At least it’s over.

Kaiko had a grin that stretched from ear to ear as he looked over at Danny. “Let’s drop dese off den come back.”

Not quite sure that he had heard Kaiko correctly, Danny asked incredulously, “Come back?”

“Yeah, I wanna see da fuzz’s face.”

Not trusting his ability to keep his emotions from his face Danny leaned back in seat with his eyes staring at the road before him. Why in the world would Kaiko want to anywhere near an angry McGarrett? The idea was stupid, reckless, and risky. Danny wondered what ever had possessed him to agree to take this job. The only thing that kept Danny from leaping out of the van and turning himself in was Kaiko’s insinuation that he was going with him to sell the parts. If he discovered the buyer then maybe, just maybe, would this whole ordeal be worth it.

Not much later the van started to slow and they pulled next to a warehouse. Danny kept a relaxed posture but mentally he was alert and filing away every bit of information he could gather.

Kaiko honked the horn three times in succession: one long and two short. Danny recognized it as a signal and that conclusion was affirmed when a garage door slide up and they drove inside. The door closed behind them as they got out of the van and stood in a mostly empty warehouse. The man working the door was a little taller than Danny and of Asian descent. He wasn’t bulky but he had some muscles on his frame. When he turned toward them, Danny figured that he was probably Japanese.

Glancing casually around the rest of the warehouse, Danny noticed a door leading into a small square room that he guessed was an office. The rest of area was open and empty except for a commercial truck and another man leaning against it. That man was of the same nationality, height, and build as the man who let them into the warehouse and the two of them looked like they might be twins.

On seeing the truck, Danny realized that they weren’t keeping the stolen parts here; this was just a drop off point. Glancing toward the truck’s license plate, Danny was disappointed to see that it was covered so that he couldn’t read the number.

The hairs on the back of Danny’s neck prickled. Something wasn’t right here. Codes, changing drop off points, the covered license plate, and the fact that Kaiko normally made this run alone just didn’t add up to a gang of thieves that stripped cars for parts. Whoever was running this show was way too good for car parts; they could be making much more money dealing in practically anything else. Maybe there was something to McGarrett’s accusation about Kaiko being involved in the jewelry thefts. But if Kaiko was involved with people good enough to steal from those stores why would he waste his time stealing hot car parts? It couldn’t just be for fun; no one paid out that type of money so some kids could fool around. It just came back to the fact that things weren’t adding up in a way that made sense and thinking about it was giving Danny a headache.

While Danny was analyzing the room, the man who worked the door called out to Kaiko, “You’re late. Haku wants to talk to you.”

Kaiko smirked at the man as he held out his hands in a mock surrender. “Hey, I got a special shipment.” Kaiko looked over his shoulder at his partner and ordered, “Danno, help dem unload.”

Danny noticed Kaiko disappear through the office door as he turned to open the van’s doors. He silently worked along aside the two men, not trusting himself to speak since he was having a hard time reading this whole situation. Besides, they were acting like they were the muscle; Kaiko was probably meeting with the brains.

Once the parts were out of the van and on the floor, the Japanese men walked over to their truck while Danny waited beside Kaiko’s van. Luckily, he didn’t have to wait too long as the door opened and Kaiko came back into the main room. Danny’s pulse quickened as he saw another figure coming out behind him.

The person who followed Kaiko into the room was dressed like someone who spent a lot of time around cars, dressed in comfortable pants and a t-shirt that were dirty and stained with grease, but the person wearing them was definitely not someone Danny was expecting.

Kaiko was smirking again; Danny could tell he was enjoying springing this surprise on him. For the person that Danny assumed was Haku, the person that had a half a dozen youth gangs stripping cars across Honolulu was a slender Hawaiian woman who looked to be in her late twenties. She was definitely easy on the eyes even though Danny noticed that she had a vertical scar over her right eye. However, neither her looks nor her scar detracted from the aura of confidence and control that he sensed from her.

The Hawaiian woman surveyed the room; her eyes seemed to take in everything before they settled on Danny. “So this is the young Mr. Burken that I’ve heard so much about.”

Kaiko saved Danny from having to respond as he called out, “Yeah, Danno’s good.”

“Well, Mr. Burken. What do you think of my little setup here?” The woman’ voice was crisp, proper but with a hint of a challenge in her words. She spoke in a way that immediately demanded Danny’s full attention and respect.

Weighing his words clearly, Danny decided to take a risk and replied in kind, “I think there’s more here than meets the eye, Miss…?”

The Hawaiian woman chuckled and then paused for a moment as she studied him. Danny felt uncomfortable under her gaze but he kept up the persona of a bored and sure-of-himself punk. She nodded as she stated, “You’ll do. And you can call me Haku.”

Clearly done addressing Danny, Haku turned toward the stolen goads and began picking her way through the parts scattered in the room with a look of intense concentration. After picking a few pieces up and setting them down again, she stated, “Scratched and dented, these parts aren’t worth more than scrap.”

“So da fuzz works,” Kaiko quickly shot back. “Dere bettah for other reasons.”

The woman gave a slight laugh as she picked up McGarrett’s license plate. Grinning she said, “Yes, I think this will hold a special place in my collection.”

“So?”

“So you’ll get paid the usual.”

Finishing her survey of the merchandise, Haku nodded towards the twins who began loading it into another vehicle. “And that means we’re finished.”

Brisk, blunt, and sure; this was definitely a woman who knew that she was in control. Danny kept staring at the space where Haku stood even after she disappeared back into the office. He wasn’t quite sure what to make of this woman.

“Danno,” Kaiko called out in a tone that suggested that it wasn’t the first time he had called his name.

Danny mentally cursed himself for allowing his mind to wander. “Yeah?” he answered.

“Ya coming?”
Danny answered by climbing back into the van but not before taking one more quick glance back at where Haku had been.


*~*~*

Kono hadn’t made it into the office before he got the call to report to Steve’s apartment. He didn’t even want to think about what was waiting for him when he arrived because his boss had been curt over the radio, a sure sign that Kono might have to deal with Steve’s volatile Irish-temper.

Pulling into parking lot next to McGarrett’s apartment, Kono wondered briefly if his old position at HPD was still available. Steve was standing in front of his car, arms crossed, mouth set, and acting completely obvious to the scene behind him; the usually spotless Mercury was stripped down to its frame. Kono parked and slowly got out of his car. If this had happened to anyone but Steve McGarrett, Kono would have not been able to resist a sarcastic comment but, knowing his boss, Kono didn’t dare speak.

This had all the markings of a very long day.

*~*~*


“Did ya see da fuzz’s face?” Kaiko asked, his face shining with excitement as he looked at his partner-in-crime.

The aforementioned partner-in-crime could only murmur a word of agreement for he was too busy trying to keep his own head from spinning. Danny had just sprinted away from the scene of the crime as fast as possible after seeing McGarrett’s reaction when he found his car from way too close a distance. Between Kaiko’s bright ideas and insatiable curiosity, Danny considered it a minor miracle that they hadn’t been caught. But he had met Haku…

Part of Danny wanted to scream that he had done it, that he had fulfilled an important piece of his assignment! The other part of him wanted to forget the whole evening; forget the fact that he had committed a crime against McGarrett in order to accomplish his own goals. Would McGarrett understand or would Danny spend the rest of career regretting this decision?

Noticing that Kaiko ducked inside a store, Danny thought through his next steps as he leaned against a glass window. He needed to tell Duke about Haku. He needed Duke to explain to McGarrett about the car. He needed to report that Kaiko disappeared the night McGarrett was asking about. He needed…

I need to calm down.

After a few calming breathes Danny felt his mind return to a semblance of order. As soon as Danny figured out what Kaiko wanted to do he knew that he was in for something big but he had never imagined this.

“Come on, Bruddah,” Kaiko called, tugging on his sleeve.

Danny snapped of his thoughts and took a long drink from the soda Kaiko offered him. He figured that he’d get some grief over McGarrett’s car but Duke should be happy when he gave him the information on Haku.

Reaching the shack, Danny froze when he saw the figure standing in the doorway. Looking right at them was the big Hawaiian cop that was with McGarrett yesterday.

Duke was going to kill him!