5-0

Chapter 7

"You think your dad would approve of this if we got it for you?" I ask Grace, holding up a dress to her.
Her little eyebrows furrow as she looks at it, "Its so pretty! I don't know. He would probably say it's too grown up for me!"
I roll my eyes, "We're going to get it anyway. This color would look great with your skin tone. We just won't show him this one."
A bright smile grows on her face as she wraps her arm around me, "Thanks Aunt Quinn!"
"Of course hun! Lets go pay for this then we can get ice cream."
Grace didn't have school today and Danny had a few things he needed to take care of, so I told him that I could take her to the mall for the afternoon. A few months after Danny and I became partners, I started to take Grace to do something fun once a month. All of her family lives far away from her so she really didn't have the opportunity to do fun things with her aunts or grandparents. I decided I would take it upon myself to be like an aunt to her and I love her like she is my own niece.
I feel my phone vibrate and I pull it out of my purse, struggling to hang onto all of our bags. I look to see that Danny is calling me. I quickly answer, pressing my phone to my ear.
"Hey Danny, what's up?'
He lets out a sigh, "Sorry to interrupt you two, but we have a case. You can drop Grace off at Rachel's first."
"Sounds good, I should be there as soon as I can."
I hang up the phone and turn to Grace with a sigh, "Looks like we'll have to get that ice cream to go."
****
I walk into the room of the hotel where the murder took place, meeting up with Steve and Danny as we walk up to Laura, who is standing next to a man in a suit, his grey hair styled carefully.
Laura shoots us a smile, "Tom Matthews, this is Lieutenant Commander Steve McGarret and Detectives Danny Williams and Quinn West from Five-0. Tom is running security on a Foreign Aid Summit."
Steve nods, his eyebrows furrowed in a serious manner, "Alright. What do we know about this victim?"
"His name is David Atwater. He was a diplomatic service agent assigned to General Pak's advance team." Tom replies.
Laura nods her head, "General Pak is arriving today from Sandimar for the aid signing. And a lot of people do not want him here."
Danny crosses his arms over his chest, "Yeah, from what I've seen on the news, a lot of people don't want him alive."
"Atwater was on the trail of one of those people. He called Tom just a few hours before his death saying that he had information about an assasination plot."
I frown in confusion, "Why didn't he give details over the phone?"
Tom shrugs his shoulders, "He said we had to meet. When he didn't show, I went to his room and that's where I found his body."
"So you were supposed to meet him and found his body?" Danny asks, raising his eyebrows at the man.
He lets out a sigh, "If you want to waste the little time we have investigating me, Detective Williams. I'll be in my office."
As he walks away, Steve turns back to Laura, "Whatever the threat assessment was, it now changed. Why don't we just postpone the general's trip?"
Laura shakes her head insistently, "It is critical that General Pak attend the Summit, McGarrett. That's why the Governor has you on this. You are to find Atwater's killer and assist in escorting General Pak and his family when they arrive."
"What, who are we assisting?" I ask.
A man with short, ginger hair walks forward with his hands out. When Steve's eyes land on him they widen as he walks over to him, pulling him in a hug, "No way! Bullfrog!"
The man pats Steve on the back, "Ahh Smooth Dog."
Steve turns to us, introducing his friend, "Nick served under me in the SEALs."
"Three years in the 'Stan."
Danny glares at the man, "The 'Stan? What is the 'Stan?"
"Afghanistan," Steve replies. He turns back to Nick, "These are my partners Quinn West and Danny Williams."
Nick reaches over to shake our hands, his grip is firm as his eyes fall on me, "You sure did get lucky to have partners like this."
My cheeks flush pink, but I can't help but feel the nerves grow inside me. Something was off about him, I could feel it. Before anyone can say something else, Laura butts in, "After last night's security breach, the Sandimar government decided to beef up their protective detail. They hired Nick's firm to protect General Pak and his family."
"Wow, so you got genocide, ethnic cleansing. It's a great client you got." Danny states, each word dripping with his usual sarcasm. He clearly wasn't a fan.
"Well you my team and I are here to do a job, just like you," Nick glares.
I elbow Danny lightly, trying to stop him from starting something with Steve's friend, "He knows that, we're glad to be working with you."
"Same to you guys. Looks like you should be listening to your partner there Detective Williams. I'm gonna go map out the A.O. and check for choke points." He replies, his voice carrying a taunting tone. With that he walks away from the three of us.
Danny turns to us, his eyebrows furrowed, "Can you explain to me what he was saying there, Smooth Dog?"
"A.O. is the area of operation, all of the areas we need to put on lockdown from the airport to the Summit site. Choke points are areas where the motorcade could get slowed or ambushed." Steve replies, his voice filled with amusement.
I look over at Danny, letting out a laugh, "Are you jealous?"
"No."
"You don't like him, do you?" Steve asks as we walk toward the crime scene.
Danny rolls his eyes, "What gave it away?"
"You didn't like me at first either," Steve replies.
I shrug my shoulders, "You liked me right away, just saying."
Danny rolls his eyes, "That's because you were a lot nicer when we met, you weren't pointing guns at my head and getting me shot. And let me explain something Steve, I will never like that cheeseball."
"Okay, I get that you were built without a censor button, but if we have to go to guns on this case, you're gonna be happy that he's on our side." Steve replies.
Danny shakes his head, "Okay, if we have to go to guns on this case, happy is not gonna be one of the emotions I will be expressing, okay?"
I roll my eyes at the two of them, "Something tells me I'm going to have to listen to you guys fighting like an old married couple for way too many years."
"That is if he doesn't kill us first."
****
At the crime scene, we found that it was actually a woman who had stabbed our victim with a heel and strangled him with a wire. She drugged him leading to a heated makeout session where she managed to hide from the sights of any camera. After enduring a long argument about what was good about New Jersey, the three of us finally pull up to headquarters. Along the way was a crowd of protesters expressing their hate for the General and honestly, I had to agree with them. We are forced to protect a man who has inflicted nothing but pain to anyone he has come in contact with.
"We pulled a partial print off the "do not disturb" sign she touched. Everything else had been wiped down. We ran it. No hits in the system." Kono tells us as we all stare down at the screen, filled with information pertaining to our case.
Danny frowns, motioning at the screen, "What is all of this?'
"Well, you mentioned on the phone that you didn't have a clean, full shot of the assassin's face, so I built one." Chin states, a proud smile on his face. We all shoot him impressed looks as he hands us a printed out copy of the woman's face. "I pulled two different camera stills off the security footage. The left full profile is from the bar and the right profile is from when they exited the elevator. I grabbed bits and pieces from other shots and added them to the two base images and created a composite."
I raise my eyebrows in surprise, "This is pretty awesome work here Chin."
Steve nods his head in agreement, "Okay, listen. Add the prints you pulled and circulate this picture to HPD, NCIC, FBI, Interpol, and airport and marina securities. Kono and Quinn, keep digging into General Pak's history, I want to know if he has any enemies at home."
"And I'll take a look at the list of protestors at the Summit that HPD has on a watch list," Danny states before walking out of the main area.
"Just remember General Pak has a lot of people who hate him, so don't confuse making a threat with being one. Forget the cranks and focus on the people who actually have the means to pull this off."
****
After one raid where we found the house where the assassin had been staying, Steve and I headed to one of the suspects Danny pulled up on his search of the protestors. This particular one had actually lived under General Pak's rule and has been very vocal in his protests against him. We pull up to a small apartment complex that is known to be a common place for illegal immigrants to live.
Steve looks up at the windows, then over to me, "Hey, keep an eye on the door. Don't let him get past you."
I nod my head, tightening my bullet proof vest, "You got it McGarrett."
He shoots me a look for using his last name, but eventually heads into the building while I stay and look at the door.
I look up and see our suspect walk out the door, "I got eyes on him. He's headed your way."
"Quinn!"
I look over to see our suspect on the run just a few feet from me. I chase after him, not far behind. When I get close enough I lunge and tackle him to the ground. I move quickly to stand above him, pointing my gun at him, "Nae Shan, Five-0. We have a few questions to ask you."
Steve walks up to the two of us, his gun pulled out as well, "Why did you run?"
"I don't like police," he states, his hands up defensively.
"We're going to ask you questions. You're gonna give us answers. If you lie, I'm gonna throw you and your family in an INS holding tank and then I'm gonna deport you back to Sandimar."
I nod my head, placing my gun back into my holster, "You're a person of interest in an assisination plot of General Pak."
Nae Shan furrows his eyebrows in anger, "You think I want to kill General Pak? I want to see him brought before an international court of justice. I want to see him humiliated. Death is too easy for General Pak. He must admit what he did."
"What did he do to you?" Steve asks.
The man nods his head quickly and leads us to the small room where all of his family is sitting. I look around at the men and women sitting all around me and all I can see is the tortured pain in their tired eyes. They've been through way more than anyone deserves.
"General Pak's soldiers came in the morning when we were working in the fields. They set fire to our houses, our crops. They burned everything. They shot two young men because they said they were guerrillas. They were just boys. We tried to run, but they rounded us up and forced us to walk across a field. They blindfolded the machine gunners. It was a game to them. They did not even aim, they just pulled the triggers. The officers laughed as I watched my oldest son and my sister... I cannot close my eyes without seeing. Now those of us who were able to walk clear went into the jungle, toward the border. We walked for ten days with no food for the children, no medicine for the injured. Many died. And we were not the only village. A million people living in the jungle like animals. I hate General Pak, but I am no murderer."
Tears fill my eyes lightly as guilt swirls around in my chest. We have to take care of this man despite the many horrific acts he has committed. This family is a living testament as to why men like him should not be leaders. The pain his men caused on this family is unimaginable, and something that they will never forget.
The woman in front of him stands up and begins to shout at us in Burmese. She is forced to stop when Nae Shan helps her back to her chair.
I look up at Steve, whose eyes are glazed with guilt, "What did she just say?"
Nae Shan looks back at us, "She wants to know why the police can protect a monster like General Pak. She asked how a man can do that and still call himself a man."