Chapter 8

AN - thank you very much to AllTrekkedUp for your constant support :)

Donald Evans stared hard at the telephone, unable to move from the seat in his office as he continually clenched and unclenched his fists. Beads of sweat slid down his face as he grit his teeth, wondering for the umpteenth time just how a night of sensual pleasure had turned his life around, forcing him down this path that he had sworn to avoid. Pulling shallow breaths into his lungs, he clenched his eyes shut and tried to block everything out and calm down but it was no use; he couldn't run away from the fact that as soon as he made that call he would be signing the death warrants of two people who had done more for the state of Hawaii than anyone else could.

But what else could he do? They had him in their pockets; he knew it and they knew it. If one word got out about what had happened on that night in Las Vegas, it would cost him everything that he held dear; his job, his family, his friends - everything that had defined him and gave him power would be stripped away, and he would be no better than a common homosexual man. The price was too high to pay for doing the right thing, but he wasn't sure he wanted the deaths of two innocent men on his conscience. He was torn between the conflicting desire to do the right thing or do the easy thing.

It would have been much simpler to do the easy thing, but in doing so he would be admitting that he was a coward, which was something that he had spent his whole life denying. If he picked up that telephone he would be no better than a common murderer. He would be no better than them. Donald raised a hand to wipe the sweat off his forehead to notice that it was badly shaking. However, for him to lie straight to Boris' face, there was the ever-present threat of those photographs. If they ever got out he would be completely destroyed. It wasn't worth it, and he had no doubt the German would not hesitate to release those photographs if he refused to cooperate; the man was ruthless and vindictive with all the makings of a first class megalomaniac.

Evans swallowed thickly as he forced himself to come to a decision. Picking up the telephone, he compelled himself to dial the direct number to Boris' office and tried to ignore the hammering of his heart and the voice of his conscience telling him to stop before it was too late. He cleared his throat as the phone began to ring, waiting for the other party to pick up.

xxxx

"Thank you very much for your help, it's much appreciated." Chin spoke into the phone before replacing the handset back on its cradle. He heaved a sigh as he extracted his pipe and the small packet of tobacco from his pocket to place them on the desk. It was very odd how their witness' testimony against Olonia had changed so drastically in the space of a few days. His two decades of experience on the Force were telling him that the witness was running scared, and he had no doubt as to why. Olonia was notorious for being very persuasive when he wanted to; using the lives of loved ones as a bargaining tool to ensure total cooperation. They had to make sure that their witness did not change her testimony, because the whole case would be blown out of the water if she recanted her statements.

Unsure of how to proceed next, the Chinese detective seized the phone back up again, before requesting a long distance call to the Travelodge in San Francisco, where Steve and Danny were speaking at the Law Enforcement Conference about Habeas Corpus and the dangers it posed to the investigative process. He looked up from his desk to see Kono walk past carrying a stack of files, no doubt additional paperwork regarding the Olonia case. After a few moments, he was connected to the main desk of the hotel.

"Good morning, Travelodge Hotel San Francisco, Karen speaking," the female voice answered.

"Hello, can I speak to Mr Steve McGarrett please?" Chin requested, as he began to open the packet of tobacco before putting a bit into his pipe. He waited as Karen searched the guest lists, and was taken by surprise when she told him that no one with that name was registered at the hotel. "Are you sure?"

"I am certain sir." Karen replied definitely, "There is no one with that name staying at this hotel."

Frowning slightly with worry, the Chinese detective tried to keep his voice steady as he asked, "What about Mr Danny Williams? Is he staying at the hotel?"

There were a few moments of silence as he could hear the rustling of papers as she checked the guest lists once more, before finally announcing, "No, there is no one by that name registered here. Are you sure you have the right hotel?"

"Can you please check again?" Chin requested. The sense of something being wrong appeared as the worry intensified. Catching sight of his Hawaiian counterpart walking across the office again with a new stack of paperwork, the Chinese detective waved his hand at Kono to get him over here. Confused, the Hawaiian detective set the stack down onto his desk before heading to Chin's desk. The man then covered the mouthpiece. "Kono, call through to the Conference Steve and Danny are meant to be at. Check to see whether they turned up."

"Will do, Chin." Kono replied, before heading back to his desk and picking up the phone. Karen's voice forced Chin's attention back to what was in front of him.

"I'm sorry, sir. I have searched for both names and they both are not registered at this hotel. Please try calling other ones. Was there anything else I can help you with?" she spoke clearly.

"No. Thank you for your help, bye." Chin replied, before hanging up the headset for the second time. He fished his other pocket for a pack of matches before proceeding to light up and inhale a deep breath of the tobacco before sighing. It was all very strange. Steve and Danny were meant to be at that hotel, and it was very odd indeed that they weren't even registered there. Could something have happened?

Chin moved to stand up and walked towards Kono's desk, where the Hawaiian looked just about as concerned as he was. A large hand was rested against his head as he hunched over the desk, and Chin peered over to see that he had a copy of the list of speakers at the conference. The Oriental detective waited for his counterpart to finish before asking, "Any luck here?" He knew that Steve and Dan would never shirk their duties and for both detectives to go missing like this given the hot nature of the Olonia investigation, there was a very real possibility that something could have happened to them.

Kono looked up and shook his head, allowing Chin to see the clear anxiousness there. "Nah, Steve and Danno aren't even on da list of attendees." The Hawaiian detective sighed as he glanced worriedly at his colleague, "You know bruddah, I am wonderin' what if dey are still on da island."

"What do you mean?" Chin asked as Kono straightened up and turned towards him.

"Maybe dey are workin' on a case that we don't know about." Kono shrugged uncertainly, "Ya know how sometimes dey work on National Security stuff."

The Chinese detective nodded thoughtfully as he removed the pipe from his mouth,"Maybe..." he began to answer but stopped when he noticed the guilty look that flashed across his companion's face. "What aren't you telling me, Bruddah?"

Looking back down at the list, Kono hesitated for a moment before he looked back up at Chin, the worry evident in his eyes as he confessed quietly. "I got a strange call last night from Tommy Hekekia." Kono began as he sighed, "He's working traffic division at the moment up on da North Shore. He was asking about Danny and da boss. Asking if they were maybe workin' on a case or somethin'. He claims dat he saw them both up in that little cove near da Pipe just hangin' out and relaxin', looked like dey were havin' somethin' to eat while watching da sun go down." Kono shook his head and continued softly, "Tommy was a little concerned Bruddah, cause he said dat he noticed a guy in a blue sedan parked just along da road a little ways and he seemed to be watchin' dem."

"Is he sure?" Chin asked anxiously.

The Hawaiian detective shrugged, "He was sure it was da kaikaina and da boss but when I told him dat they were on da mainland, he thought he might have made a mistake."

"Or maybe he did see them." Chin mused as he gently tapped the bottom of the pipe bowl against his palm. "If they are working an undercover case for the Feds it could explain why they lied about the San Francisco convention."

"And if Tommy saw dem last night up on da North Shore-" Kono's eyes opened wide in fear for his colleagues as Chin quietly finished his thought.

"And he saw them being watched, they could be in big pilikia."

xxxx

Boris was just finishing off some paperwork when the telephone rang. Seizing it with his left hand, he raised it to his ear before clamping it between his cheek and shoulder, answering in a clipped tone, "This is Bauer." He continued to scribble notes on the paper in front of him, bracing his left hand at the bottom of the page and a smile broke out across his features as he recognized the man on the other side as Donald Evans. "Donald, hello! How are you?"

"Good, my friend." The man in Washington replied uncertainly, "I have the information you requested. Can you talk now?"

"With you, always." Boris replied smoothly, as he moved his left hand to grasp the handset and dropped his pen, leaning backwards in his chair. "What have you found out about them?"

"For a start, I found out who they are. They aren't really Danny Simons and Steve Lions. Those are just their undercover names." Donald confirmed.

There was a note of hesitation in Donald's speech, but the German ignored it as he pressed further. A shiver of expectation ran through his body and he felt a delightful sense of foreboding as he asked, "Undercover? Then what are their real names?" He rolled his eyes as he heard Evan's swallow thickly before his irritation got the better of him. "Come on, out with it! I haven't got all day!"

There was a sharp intake of breath before Evans finally blurted out, "Steve McGarrett and Danny Williams."

"Surely you found out more than that," Boris spat out acidly. "That's not good enough. What else!"

"They're the two top cops running the joint." Donald rushed out. The German noted with pleasure the way his Washington counterpart's voice cracked and wavered, "They're the Head and Second-In-Command to Hawaii Five-O, Hawaii's elite State police unit. They have total jurisdiction over all criminal matters."

"Ahhh," was all Boris said in lieu of reply as he swivelled his chair from side to side, deep in thought. "What else?"

"Most of the hoods and syndicates on the islands are gunning for them. Many of the heads of these organisations have publically sworn vengeance on McGarrett and Williams. They have a high price on their heads and so far all attempts to get rid of them have failed." Evans responded, "They have a lot of enemies here."

"Indeed," Boris drawled. "One can't get to the top without crushing others in their wake."

"Y..y…yeah." The man on the other side of the line agreed, "Anything in particular you wish to know?"

Boris considered the question for a few moments, before finally asking, "Do you know who sent them, or why they are undercover?"
"No I don't," Donald answered. "Their investigation is top secret. All I was able to glean was that they are undercover, and that was it. I had to stop because others were snooping around and getting suspicious."

The German sighed in annoyance. "I don't want any excuses! Find out or else you know the consequences!"

"I…I will." The FBI agent whispered fearfully into the phone as his eyes darted nervously around, reassuring himself that nobody was paying him any attention as he begged, "I promise. Please just give me a little more time."

"You have twenty –four hours." Boris warned, "Not one minute more." Slamming the phone down onto its cradle, Boris looked up and watched as Robert hurried into the room. The small man looked excited as he handed the small cassette he held across the desk to him.

"This is part of the first recording from the bugs in Simons' and Lions' house." He announced eagerly as he watched his boss open the tape recorder on the corner of the desk and place the tape within as he grinned, "Preppy said that you would find them very interesting."

"'Well, let's see just how interesting they are," Boris muttered as he hit the play button and leaned back as the tape began to crackle before a voice spoke echoed around the sterling silence of the office.

"They haven't been disturbed. In fact, nothing in this room seems to have been disturbed."

"Do you think we interrupted them before they had a chance to search?"

"I'm not sure Danno, but I am sure that they are suspicious, so now on we have to stay on our toes. No more slip ups, understand?"

"Understood, Steve."

"From now on we have to assume that they are watching our every move. We need to stay in character and that means acting like a couple whether we are here or out in public, there's no turning back now. We have to remember Danno that we have no back up, no way of getting immediate assistance if things go sour; we are truly on our own. These men are dangerous, Aikane, and they will not hesitate to kill us if things go wrong."

"Gotcha!" Robert grinned as he looked eagerly across at his boss and lover.

The German's face remained emotionless as he leaned across and rewound the tape, listening intently to the taped conversation again.

"Well..." Robert began to press eagerly as his eyes shone brightly with anticipation, "They're cops, just like you suspected. You want me to find out who they are working for and then deep six 'em or what?"

With a single wave of the German's hand the hit man fell quiet as Boris again rewound the cassette and silently listened to the conversation for a third time.

The Latino fidgeted impatiently as the tape again was stopped. "Well?" he asked, cracking his fingers, "You now know they are definitely cops. What are you waiting for?"

"Yeah, they're cops!" Boris growled as he glared at the man opposite him, "But didn't you listen to them, you idiot? They are undercover all alone."

Robert bristled at the older man's tone but remained silent as Boris gradually rose from his chair and slowly began to pace the room. "That means they have no backup..." he mused, "No backup... and extremely good covers... That means whoever sent them in is not one of the local flat foot cops snooping around cause they are a little curious. There is no way local law enforcement can pull this off; they don't have the ability to."

"You think maybe someone in Washington is on to us?" Robert asked warily, holding his breath as Boris suddenly stopped pacing to turn and glare at him.

"I think first we need to know just who the hell we are dealing with and just who sent them in." Boris replied shrewdly, "To do that we are going to have to draw them both in a little deeper and see just what they are fishing for."

"I think you are making a mistake." The Latino warned softly, refusing to flinch under German's heated stare, "I still say that we should deep six them now that we know they are cops."

Unadulterated fear ripped through Robert's soul when the anger suddenly disappeared from Boris' face and he slowly walked across to where the younger man was sitting and gently cupped his face with his hand. The German's features broke out into a loving smile, and all Robert could do was stare transfixed as Boris weaved his special brand of magic. "I promise that after they have served their usefulness to me then you can choose which one you want to have some fun with first before you kill them both as slowly and painfully as you want ...later." he cooed, "But for now, let's give them a little bit of rope. Let them think that they are being accepted into the community. I want to find out just who we are dealing with, who sent them in and precisely what they are looking for."

"I think you're..." Robert began again.

"Don't think..."Boris whispered softly, cutting the hit man's warning off with a smouldering kiss designed to choke off all coherent thought as he placed his hand on Robert's crotch and began to stroke firmly, chuckling as he heard the other man moan in desire as he whispered into the hit man's ear. "You just follow orders and let me do the thinking."

Despite himself, the Latino found himself pressing against Boris' hand with increasing urgency, so that when the German took a step away a soft hiss escaped past his lips. He glared at the man now standing casually behind the large desk as he nodded, before walking stiff leggedly out of the room, slamming the door shut with a reverberating bang. Boris stared hard at the door for a few moments before allowing a predatory smile to curl his lips as he headed out towards the lanai and leaned on the frame before succumbing to the wave of excitement that engulfed him. If he played this right he could have all the people in Washington eating out of his hands like the dogs that they were.