Mano's Brief.

Chapter 1.

They came in by the back door - on ships. They were pretending to be cruise tourists but they had something more sinister in mind.
A report had come into Mano's office outlining the facts that five tourists had not reported back to their ships and had been abandoned in Honolulu.
Five, Mano thought. It seemed a lot, mostly only one or two ever missed their ship. It wasn't exactly the best place to miss a ship especially if Honolulu would be the last port of call for awhile. Ship logs and an examination of their names showed that they might be Indonesian. The ships had been boarded in San Francisco. That didn't make sense either, Mano realised. He hated mysteries like that.
He decided to put out an APB.
It was just routine - nothing to suggest these people were dangerous or anything like that. It was just concern, the cops wanting to know why they had gone to ground in Honolulu. and why they came in by the back door - on ships.
Mano always erred on the side of caution.
He had spent eight dangerous years, working deep undercover on the Chinese triads operating out of downtown Honolulu, and when he had finished that assignment his testimony in the courts had put two hundred gangsters behind bars in Oahu State Prison, had broken up five triads peddling everything from people to narcotics. He was now a marked man, with a huge price on his head.
His security detail were aware of that and accompanied him everywhere he went. Mano himself didn't take the threat lightly. No threat to a Chief of the Department would be tolerated which was why two HPD officers accompanied him everywhere he went. They were a special protective detail and they were run by Major Sean O'Malley, a big raw boned Irishman who had once worked protective detail on the President of the United States in the Secret Service and who knew what he was about. Major was a rank above that of Captain and used widely in the Honolulu police department. He had sent his people on training course after training course, often showing them real life scenarios like the John F. Kennedy assassination or the crackpot who had taken a shot at Ronald Reagan, and wasn't above placing them with a celebrity for a few months to give them real life experience. They often returned fresh and with a renewed awareness of various situations. They knew how to screen a crowd, and the signs to watch out for with a loner. The man in the crowd who didn't smile, the man dressed in gloves on a hot day, the woman with the unusual backpack, or any of a hundred different signals given out before an atrocity was carried out. Mano's protective detail certainly knew what to look out for, and above all they valued solid communications, good teamwork, strong knowledge driven intelligence, and their Glock 17's.
Mano knew he was in good hands.
It was strange how he'd managed to infiltrate the triads, naturally suspicious of outsiders, because he wasn't native to China, and in fact looked no more a Chinese national than the incumbent in the White House. He was what the native Hawaiian's called a howlie, a big lump of a man, with a square typically American face. A saturnine look with a rugged jawline. He looked a bit like a gangster, something he didn't discourage, given his line of work. He wasn't above wearing a hoodie or the apparel of the street to blend in like a natural. He was a man used to living in the shadows.
Given his pedigree, the Governor had given him a wide swathe when appointing him to the role. He had assembled a crack team of cops, the cream of HPD, to help him with the formidable task. In the wake of 9 11, the Governor had appointed a special task force. It's brief was simple: Keep terrorism out of Hawaii.
But as Governor Watts liked to point out: "Times change, as do priorities.
So far, Mano had managed to do just that, recently stopping a bunch of Japanese terrorists with the aid of Japanese Police Inspector Abe Nakano who had married one of his best officers in a Shinto wedding in Tokyo. Mano smiled as he thought about it, the memories still fresh in his brain.
He had also stopped Saudi Arabian terrorists too although it still saddened him that they had managed to kill his predecessor Chief Kali. When Kali had been killed, Governor Watts had no hesitation in immediately appointing him as replacement.
Nui entered, after knocking briefly. It was just gone four in the afternoon. A bright April day, blue skies. He had just come on duty. He had been targeted by their last group of terrorists but he had the strength of an ox and had pulled through okay. "Hi, Chief. Anything for me?"
Mano motioned him in and told him to sit. He showed Nui the details of the APB he had just issued and told him to look further into it. "It might be nothing," he emphasised, "but then again there could be something in it. Do some digging and see what you can find out."
"Sir," Nui acknowledged, leaving the Chief's office. He returned to his desk and his coffee. He spent a few minutes logging into his computer and then googled Indonesia and terrorism and read what it had to say. He'd never heard of terrorism in Indonesia and so he was surprised to see that it did, in fact, exist.
Things had changed in Mano's office. Nui still worked there but Kamakani was gone. He had been killed in a car crash. Pono too was gone, resigning for reasons best known to herself. She had never been herself following the Mujahid case. Some said she had found religion.
Mano had tried to persuade her otherwise but he hadn't been successful. He made a mental note to speak with Fico.
Up from the ranks Kai Lino had been grabbed from HPD considering the work he had put in on the Oshira case. His testimony in court had also been invaluable.
A replacement for Kamakani hadn't been made yet. However, Mano knew he'd have to find someone soon as the workload was too great. He still wasn't over his grief for Kamakani but HPD had moved in around the man's family; shielding them, providing finance and food and other assistance, protecting one of their own. Kamakani had started out working as a HPD officer.
Nui was surprised to see that Indonesia had a tendency to stand with the Palestinian people.
Before doing anything further he took another sip of coffee and checked his email for messages. Nothing urgent. He turned his attention back to the computer.
Counterterrorism was handled by the BNPT, an agency which already had reported dangerous elements within the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) and several hundred had been arrested by a special military unit known as Densus 88 and the INP, which was run by civilians. Despite being civilian led the INP also ran a military unit known as Korps BRIMOBI, a special mobile unit tasked with counterterrorism affairs.
He next turned his attention to languages spoken and initially frowned.
Indonesian (Bahasa Indonesia).
Javinese.
Sundanese.
Madurese.
But then as he delved deeper he saw English mentioned. He immediately put in an international request for assistance.  He'd given Kai a task, and the young man came off the phone with the shipping companies with the names of missing passengers. He left it down in front of Nui.
As Nui was typing out his request for assistance he glanced at Kai's list: Bima. Agung. Aji. Anwar, Dewi, pronounced Dee-Wee. The only female.
Nui asked Kai Lino to check something else for him and Kai came back moments later. "Jakarta, Indonesia is seventeen hours ahead." Nearly like that Japanese case they'd just dealt with, Nui thought. He glanced up at the wall clock. Nearly five. Tuesday evening.
"That would make it about ten in the morning on Wednesday? Was that right?"
Kai nodded, having consulted his notes and the telephone directory. "We're behind by seventeen, they're ahead."
Nui nodded. This was one of the reasons he had hated maths in school. And geography. He put a new question to Kai.
Kai nodded a moment later. "That's correct, Nui. Jakarta is their capital city."
Nui nodded tightly.
He glanced up as Mano left his office.
"See you guys," Mano called. He was as usual shadowed by two of Major O'Malley's men who stood up as soon as he emerged from his office. Both were wearing ponchos which hid their weapons well. They moved in sync' with Mano.
Nui and Kai waved.
Mano waved back.
He was meeting Suzi for dinner in Chinatown. It was her birthday.

*

"Happy birthday, love," Mano said, as Suzi breezed in, her hands filled with shopping bags. He kissed her cheek and held a chair for her as she bundled her bags towards him.
He signalled one of O'Malley's men who moved forward to him with a smile on his face.
Mano nodded his thanks but Suzi flashed a warm smile at the undercover and addressed the man: "Thank you, Franklin."
"Happy birthday, Suzi."
She smiled anew.
She looked at Mano. Sometimes she had to pinch herself that she'd nabbed a man like Mano. "How was your day?" she asked.
She was genuinely interested.
"Not too bad today," he admitted candidly, "but I'm going to have to move soon on replacing Kamakani."
Sadness crossed her face for an instant. Kamakani's loss was still recent, still raw.
Pono too was gone which meant they might not see as much of Fico. Her face was regretful.
"Too many changes," she sympathised.
"Indeed," he commented. He handed her a menu. "Let's order."
The food took their mind off the office. Prawn crackers, for starters. A glass of red each. Kung Po chicken, satay flavoured beef, prawn and vegetable skewers. Iced water. Fried rice, although Mano as usual insisted on boiled rice. Laughter broke out as they found themselves discussing the wedding last year between Abe Nakano and HPD Officer Jane Reilly. Both had been honoured guests at the wedding in Tokyo.
It had been one of those occasions which they doubted would ever happen again in their lifehoods.
A Shinto wedding, no less!

*

They lived in Makiki.
Neither had cars with them so they decided to walk via N Vineyard Blvd and Prospect St, a stroll of just under three miles.
Used to their ways the two undercover men had electric scooters nearby. Both were young enough that they didn't look odd on them. It allowed them to zip in and out, their eyes everywhere.
It was an area of the city Mano had always loved, complete with old style colonial housing amid modern apartment buildings. There were good hiking spots nearby in the valley and hiking was something Mano and Suzi regularly undertook. It allowed them to switch off completely from the job; to say nothing of the beneficial aspects of the exercise. It was the kind of living Mano liked to encourage in his team and he figured each should have a sport. It was also the kind of living which ensured his people had a fighting chance when they were gunned down in the line of duty. A good neighbourhood could make a huge difference to quality of life issues.
The benefits of a sport was something O'Malley always laid emphasis on when he was scouring the ranks of the NYPD, the Boston Police Department and the Chicago Police Department for potential people for his security detail. He invariably employed people with Irish blood.
Mano and Suzi's house was laid out over one level with the kitchen and sitting rooms off to the left and the bedrooms off to the right.
They veered off to their bedroom as soon as they entered. No TV tonight, just themselves.
She had recently talked her husband into trying for a baby and was gratified that he had been so willing. So, they wasted none of their spare time in that attempt.
A few moments after entering their dwelling all of the lights went out.