Authors:
“Dispatch to Car Ten.”

Duke Lukela reached down and grabbed his mike. “Car Ten here.”

The familiar tones of Henry Kainoa’s voice came over the radio. “Duke, we have a small problem.”

Duke groaned; he had been having good morning. “Go ahead, Henry.”

“McGarrett’s had Williams and Kikeona brought in.”

“What? Why?” asked an astonished Duke. There was no conceivable reason that he could think of for Five-O picking up a gang of small time punks that just happened to have their undercover officer in it.

“McGarrett’s Mercury was stripped bare last night and he seems pretty confident about the culprits.”

Of all the crazy… Duke’s thoughts trailed off as he realized he probably didn’t want to know what the pupule cop had been thinking. Now, they had to think of a way to salvage this case. “Has McGarrett charged Williams with anything?”

“Not that I’ve heard.”

At least Henry had one piece of good news. “What should we do?”

“I’ve got my hands full with a case right now. I need you to go over there and convince McGarrett to back down.”

Reason with a livid McGarrett, could Henry have given him an easier assignment like finding enough solid evidence to arrest a Vashon? Duke knew that he didn’t have any other options; they needed Williams and Kikeona out on the streets to finish this case. “Ten-four, Lukela out.”

Duke dropped the microphone and speed through the city streets. With luck he would reach the Iolani Palace before Steve arrested Danny. Why did Five-O have to move so quickly? Duke could just see their carefully planned operation unraveling before his eyes because of a well-meaning but stubborn Irish cop, and a reckless but equally stubborn rookie.

As Duke walked into the Five-O office the cheerful voice of Steve’s secretary greeted him. “Morning, Duke. Steve’s busy at the moment.”

Duke heard the sound of raised voices from the direction of Steve’s office and he figured that Steve was busy letting the two “punks” have it. “May, I know who’s in there. I need a file.”

“What?”

“Any file. It doesn’t matter what’s in it. Please May, this is important.”

The secretary looked confused but she picked up a manila folder and handed it to Duke. Duke grabbed the folder and a scrap of paper and scribbled a few words.

Duke looked up at May. “Tell Steve I’m coming in.” Then without waiting to see that she followed his command, Duke walked straight toward Steve’s office door.

Reaching the door, Duke heard a familiar voice call out, “Look man, I know my rights. I don’t have to put up with this.”

Walking into Steve’s office, Duke might have laughed if he wasn’t so furious. Danny was sitting slouched over in an armchair, his arms crossed, with his bright blue eyes glaring at McGarrett. The punk in the chair next to him looked bored with the whole proceedings. However, a smirk on Kikeona’s face showed that he didn’t seem to mind being on the receiving end of one of McGarrett’s rants.

Steve looked up at Duke, his eyes showing his disapproval at the interruption. “Sorry, Steve, I have some new information of the jewelry heists that you need to see immediately.” Duke said handing over the manila folder.

Flipping the folder open, Steve quickly glanced at the handwritten note tacked on the first page.

Sensing an opportunity Kikeona called out lazily, “Can we go now?”

Steve tossed the folder behind and brought his attention fully to young man sitting before him. “Not until I say so. Kono, take Mr. Kikeona here and I want to find every detail of where he was last night: times and places. And I’ll warn you, kid, if you lie I will find out. For your sake you better hope that your story matches that of your friend here.”

Kikeona stood up and sneering declared, “Ya ain’t gonna to get nothin’, cop. Not from me and not from Danno neither.”

Further protests and lip were made impossible when Kono grabbed the punk by the arm and dragged him out of the office.

As the door shut, Danny wanted to let out a large sigh of relief but instead he waited silently looking at Duke for a signal to drop this charade. McGarrett stood by his desk as if carved from granite while Duke checked the door, making sure it was firmly shut.

When Duke turned around Danny knew that he was in trouble. The normally mild-mannered detective looked furious. “What,” demanded Duke, “possessed you to think this assignment gave you the license to strip McGarrett’s car?”

There goes my job. “It wasn’t my idea,” Danny replied weakly.

“It wasn’t your idea to strip McGarrett’s car,” Duke repeated.

“It wasn’t!” Danny replied, louder than he intended. Taking a few deep breathes, he straightened in his chair, determined to look more like the officer he was instead of the punk he was impersonating. “Kaiko was furious about the shakedown and…”

Duke interrupted, “Shakedown, what shakedown?”

“Yesterday, at the soda shop,” Danny explained, deliberately not looking at McGarrett. “McGarrett interrogated Kaiko about some theft at a jewelry store. Afterwards, Kaiko was furious and wanted to get back at McGarrett but he wasn’t stupid. Going after the car was the only thing he could except to carry off. What was I supposed to do, blow my cover over a few car parts?”

Ending his speech, Danny saw that Duke looked a lot calmer. Deciding to risk a glance at McGarrett, he was surprised to see that the detective looked…amused? Danny knew that he was out of trouble when Duke turned to McGarrett and asked, “What should I book him on?”

“For starters, two counts of lip, and one count of embarrassing his superior officer, I’ll add more charges once we get to the bottom of this rogue’s actions.”

Danny felt his face turn red from the detectives’ teasing. “You aren’t serious,” he blurted out.

“Nah,” McGarrett said with a wave of his hand. “However, I do want a report. Kono shouldn’t take too long with your friend out there.”

“Right,” Danny muttered. “Um, where do you want me to start?”

“Where was Mr. Kikeona three nights ago?”

“I don’t know but he wasn’t at the house.”

“Did he say anything?”

“Just that he was going out and we were supposed to hang loose until he got back.”

McGarrett leaned back in his chair, appearing to think things over. Danny didn’t wait for him to ask the next question as got his own thoughts in order and knew that he had to drop the big news. “I met Haku.”

Duke immediately reacted. “When?”

“Last night. D.J. and Johnny didn’t want anything to do with Mr. McGarrett’s car so it was just Kaiko and I. So Kaiko let me come along with him to drop off the parts and Haku was there.”

Danny noticed McGarrett reach forward and turn on his tape recorder. “Tell us about him.”

“Her. Haku’s a Hawaiian woman in her late twenties, about 5’6’’ with long black hair, and she has scar here.” Danny drew a vertical line from above his right eye to the middle of his cheek. She a real looker but she dresses like a guy. She was wearing work clothes that you’d see on any mechanic and it’s not for show; she knows cars.

“Haku’s one tough lady and when she speaks you listen. She seemed happy that we stripped your car, saying that those pieces will hold a special place in her collection.”

“Did you meet anyone else?”

“She had two muscles, Japanese twins. I didn’t get their names.”

McGarrett leaned forward, “Twins, you sure?”

“That or very close looking brothers.”

McGarrett rose quickly and walked over to his bulletin board. Grabbing one of the many flyers he showed it to him. Danny took the flyer and saw two familiar faces staring back at him. “That’s them.”

“Positive?”

“Yes, sir.”

Steve quickly read the flyer he grabbed: Tetso and Tomo Asari. As a team, it was estimated they had stolen over a half a million dollars worth of jewelry from stores in Japan and California. They had hired local help in a couple of their jobs. They fit with the Waikiki thefts but not as muscle for a Hawaiian woman who was ordering around local youth gangs. Steve wanted to ask Danno more questions but he was worried that keeping him back here much longer would make Kikeona suspicious. Hitting a button on his phone, Steve ordered, “Ralph, pick up.”

“I’m listening.”

“I’m going to release these two punks and I need you to dog them.”

“Will do.”

“Duke, take Danno out and tell Kono to turn them loose.”

“Ready?”

“Yes,” the undercover officer answered as he stood up. “And, uh, Mr. McGarrett, sir. I am sorry about your car."

Steve wanted to shake his head. Danno the cop couldn’t be more different than Danno the punk; the cop could use some of the punk’s confidence. “Never apologize for doing the right thing,” he ordered firmly.

Danno looked relieved. “Thank you, sir.”

Now, Steve wanted to roll his eyes; the formality was becoming excessive. "And Danno, its Steve."

The young officer looked like he was going to respond but Duke grabbed his arm and started hauling him toward the door and the rebellious punk was instantly back.

As they left, Steve stood and walked across the room to look out the French windows. This was an interesting twist that he hadn’t expected. He was upset that he hadn’t been informed of…Danno? He never heard the officer’s real name. Though he suspected HPD never imagined a connection between their theft case and his.

Steve heard heavy footsteps, signaling Kono’s return. Remaining silent, he waited for him to speak first.

“Boss?”

Still looking out the window, Steve confessed, “I don’t believe it.”

“Believe what?”

Steve turned around. “Danno’s one of ours.”

Kono let out a low whistle. “Da kid’s good. He really pulled a fast one on you.”

“Yes he did.”

The door opened again and when Duke walked back into room Steve pounced. “So when was HPD planning on informing me that they had a man undercover?”

Duke at least looked sympathetic. “Last I heard, Steve, Five-O had its hands full with a bunch of missing jewels.”

“And I hauled Kikeona in here because he might be involved in that case.”

“It doesn’t make sense, Steve,” Duke replied shaking his head. “Kikeona’s a car thief, a small time gang leader. He doesn’t have the skills needed to pull off a successful heist.”

“On his own, no, but he could be a piece of the puzzle. Those men Danno identified are known jewel thieves.”

“Uh, Steve, his name is Danny.”

Steve chuckled. “I don’t know, Duke. He was pretty insistent that I call him Danno.”

Duke thought about replying but he knew McGarrett well enough to know that the detective wasn’t done teasing the young cop about his escapades. He just hoped that Danny didn’t take it the wrong way.

"Hey, Steve!" Chin called out as he walked into the office. "I turned up something weird about that Danno kid. Found a high school baseball coach who swears his name is Dan Williams. Problem is he says the kid played for him seven years ago."

"Alright Duke which is it? Chin says Dan, you say Danny, and he calls himself Danno."

"Legally it’s Dan Williams but everybody calls him Danny."

"Did I miss something?" asked a confused looking Chin.

“Yeah," Kono answered. "Da mystery punk's a cop."