By the time that Steve made into the 5-0 office, some time passed because he had to go home to shower and change first. Waiting for him was Danny and an amused HPD lieutenant. Confused, he greeted everyone as he welcomed the visitor into his office. “How’s it going? What can we do for you?”
The lieutenant glanced at Danny, who followed them in and settled on to the couch with his hands folded behind his head and a grin on his face. “Actually Commander, I’m here because Agent Mikaelson from NCIS visited HPD this morning to report you for harassment,” he informed.
Steve leaned back on his desk and sighed. “Did she now? What exactly did she say?”
“That she stepped out of her house to collect her morning paper to find you on her property. This after you followed her on one of her cases this week and visited her unprovoked at her office yesterday, to the point that she had to request your partner to come and have you removed.”
Danny snickered. “I told you she was nuts.”
“What were you doing at her house at 4:30 am today?” the lieutenant curiously questioned.
Steve let out a huff and crossed his arms. “I learned she ran and just wanted to go with her before work, get to know her better! Did she tell you that she invited me in to talk and for coffee?!”
The lieutenant held up a disc. “She gave me this. Apparently, it’s a recording from what transpired in her home this morning.”
“All the defense I need then,” Steve smiled.
“Well, it shows one of her siblings run inside yelling that a man was snogging his sister.”
“That dirty -” Steve started and shook his head, grinning. “She’s setting me up.”
“It would appear that way. She did admit that she has no intention of following through on this but wanted to make sure that you knew not to ambush or surprise again as you’ve been doing and that this is simply a warning,” he commented. “Please tread carefully, Commander, she has friends in higher places than you.”
Steve frowned and nodded, letting the HPD officer leave him and Danny alone in the office. He looked over at his friend, who was slipping his cellphone back into his pocket. “What the hell Danny?”
“What? I was just letting the others know I won the bet.”
“What the hell did you call?”
“You’d try to go for a workout or some shit with the crazy chick,” Danny shrugged. “Just didn’t think it’d be this soon. I warned you she was a few fries short of a Happy Meal.”
Steve huffed and retreated into his office. There was something about Myriam’s brother Nick that seemed familiar somehow, and he wanted to know why. Sitting at his desk, he ran his hand over his face as he picked up his phone to dial his old friend that had given him all the information that he thought he knew about the NCIS agent.
“Hey, Steve, what’s up?”
“This Mikaelson girl, the information you gave me. When I confronted her about what I confirmed, she damn near laughed me out of her office,” he admitted. “Later she said that I should go back and tell my source that you needed to go back and get more updated gossip.”
“Ah well, that’s what I have for you. They staged one brother’s murder, the other one went to jail for it, and your girl was free to live her own life. But the rumor is that they had a secondary motive to go through all that trouble, and I might have made it worse by digging even further.”
Steve let his face fall into his hand. “What could you have possibly done? And what motive? She’s a federal agent, and her two brothers are living with her here in Hawaii, although the one seemed like he saw a ghost when he came down this morning.”
“Turns out that their father was a brute. Still is a brute.”
“So they believe he’s alive. That’s nice.”
“You don’t understand. While her brothers were doing their thing, their father was the monster, the enforcer, the leader. He was well versed in martial arts and torture techniques and didn’t shy away from using them on his sons to toughen them up. Rumor is that they killed him, or that they ran him out of town with some help. Those kids could be scared shitless that their father might pop up again and I may have raised a big white flag saying ‘hey, we’re here!'”
Steve sat thoughtful of what he just heard, considering the defensive house that the Mikaelson siblings had set up. “The way they live, they could do that entirely on their own. But, they did seem pretty into keeping one another under control. It’s the oldest that had me unnerved though. He seemed like he knew me and she couldn’t wait to get us out of the house once he came downstairs and saw me there.”
“All I can tell you is that he was dead for fifteen years. Lord knows what he’s been up to. He could have been to the islands or wherever you may have worked at any given time.”
“You told me he might have killed Wo Fat, but I remember that I was there and shot him. I am sure I did,” he argued.
“Look, the Mikaelsons reach goes far, and it’s not just in politics. It’s also on the dirty side of the business. They know far more people that we can even imagine and their black book – well, you can imagine how much the FBI, CIA, Interpol, and any other alphabet soup world agency would be interested in. They can also stay clean. Myriam Mikaelson is a sharp nail, and nothing I can find indicated she’s a dirty cop. If anything she despises them more because of her family history, and it’s well known in New Orleans. She doesn’t hesitate to take down a good name either if it suits her. Just know what you’re doing if you’re going to be getting into bed with her.”
“I am not getting into bed with her! I merely wanted to know more about her seeing as she’s the new leader of NCIS here on the Island and her record only shows her achievements, her postings. Nothing about her background and that made me suspicious. Am I right to be suspicious of her?”
Joe let out a laugh at the other end of the phone. “Yeah, you are, but she’s not the one to keep an eye on. It’s her brother, but I’m sure she’s already doing that herself because she hadn’t known him for fifteen years. You have never been this curious about a girl before Steve, which is why everyone is giving you a hard time. From what I can tell, she could use someone good, but she won’t be easy to get through to earn her trust.”
“Alright, Romeo, any tips?”
“Don’t stalk the girl. She’s a freaking cop like you! She’ll play the law into her hand to get under your skin. Best bet, make friends with her brothers. That’s all I can think of if she is going to do her best to avoid you. What have you done already?”
Steve let his head sink to his desk and groaned. “What you just told me not to do? She went to HPD this morning to have them come to talk to me about not coming to her unannounced.”
“Good job.”
“Thanks, Joe. Now, how the hell do I make friends with her brothers if I can’t go to her house?”
“I don’t know. If the oldest was into the shady side of business like the rest of the family, then your big friend might know where he spends his free time if he’s been here before,” he suggested. “Sometimes it’s hard to shake old habits.”
Steve let out a sigh, not liking that suggestion either as it would only seem he was investigating the brothers as a way to get to Agent Mikaelson. “Thanks again. I’ll figure something out.”
Hanging up the phone, Steve had an empty stare as he looked out into the office, trying to figure out the NCIS Agent. It was like she ran hot and cold, and this last move caught him completely off guard and by surprise.
It was then he noticed Officer Rey standing in the doorway. “The door’s closed!”
“Well, was,” Tani replied with a shrug. “Kinda figured you were calling your buddha about the new NCIS leader here on the Island and eavesdropped.”
“The door was closed,” Steve stated again.
“And, with all due respect, Steve, you are a moron when it comes to women like her.”
He let out a sigh and sat back to glare at his teammate. “Let me guess. Danny filled you in? What would you suggest?”
She shrugged again as she leaned against the doorpost after swinging it open wider. “My brother is a little shit. Her brothers are probably little shits. I could ask around and maybe see if I can see if they’re still on the straight and narrow? Surely Miss Mikaelson won’t like it if 5-0 is investigating her brothers; one who was up until recently in jail and the other in the wind for 15 years, all three of them of a known crime family… I only want to keep Hawaii safe,” she said as innocently as she could. “And then you can tell her that I did it all on my own and gave me a reprimand and she’ll like you a bit more.”
“That easy?”
“Well, no, but it’s better than what you had in mind. You should stay clear of them, let me act on my instincts without telling you or the captain.”
He weighed the risks of her idea and eventually nodded. “Okay, fine. But the moment things get out of hand you back off as well. We don’t need her to get SECNAV blocking our access to the bases as well, and I think she can have that done.”
“Don’t worry; I know what I’m doing!”
“I thought I did too,” he rolled his eyes, frustrated by the woman of conversation. “Just be careful.”
~o.O.o~
After weeks of investigating and picking up new cases in the time, they still weren’t anywhere close to finding Parsons. Not that Myriam was surprised, the bitch knew to hide her tracks.
But, she was happy with the new members of the team; Jasper Swan, a former marine with excellent people skills and then there was Matt Brown, someone Hetty Lange had personally trained and vouched for. Sebastian didn’t like leaving when two new techs were brought in, one to organize the mess left by Isabella and the other for a more permanent role. Aracely Morales was a tough cookie but good at what she did. Thorough.
Myriam was slightly disappointed to realize that Commander McGarrett left her alone, had she pushed things too far with him? Likely not. She had told him to back off, and he hadn’t, so she had to make it clear to him. On the other hand, it was nice that a guy was pursuing her, one that wasn’t a sleazeball. But she was unclear if it was because she was NCIS, herself or because of her brothers.
She occasionally checked in with the security cameras at home when the movement was detected, and it was usually Cole waking up very late and moving around the house. Nick was mostly always gone, and she was wondering where he’d gone to. Knowing a little how their family used to work it was likely that he had his own place somewhere where he could do things that Myriam wouldn’t approve of.
Maybe she should slap a GPS tracker on him to see where he went.
But she also wanted to trust him.
But she also knew that she couldn’t trust him – not entirely.
She eventually found her way to one of the beaches one relatively slow afternoon and shook her head. Myriam found Cole surrounded by a few surfing instructor ladies and enjoying every moment of attention.
“Oh, look! It’s my sister who’s decided that all work and no play makes her so incredibly dull!” Cole smiled widely looking at Myriam. “Coming to join us?”
“Nope. Just trying to figure out what the appeal to the beach is. I still prefer home,” she smirked at her brother. “Give me a bar and jazz, and I’ll be right at home.”
He looked at her for a moment and shrugged. “We’ll ask Nick to build a bar at the beach where they play jazz,” he then let out a sigh. “On second thought… let’s not.”
Myriam raised a brow at his response. “Why not? It’s a good business idea. And it would keep you two out of trouble if you kept the business clean. Unless you didn’t intend to?”
“You think it’s a great idea?” Cole blinked at her. “Seriously?”
She shrugged then. “Looks like we’ll be here for a while, why not? As long as you two keep everything legal, it’s fine by me. Bring a bit of home to this dreadful place.”
Cole let go of his lady friends and hugged his sister. “Well, you see… I’ve been thinking about this for a while now. I went to do some research, and I think we can do it. It just needs to be approved by the city council, so we’d have to come up with a very good plan and find a spot where it’s not intrusive. Like… not in our backyard, for example.”
Myriam liked his enthusiasm. “Go ahead, dig deeper. Ask the locals for help when you get stuck.”
“I already did,” Cole smiled widely. “And he’s offered to be a business partner.”
She nodded slowly. “Get me his information, and I’ll make sure he’s legit as far as that goes so that your investment doesn’t go down the drain, okay? I’m just going to look around for now. Just – take it easy on bringing the beach bunnies home. I’m not liking waking up and finding randoms in the house.”
“But…”
Myriam stared him down. “I’m not liking tripping over random girls in our house. Not first thing in the morning when I have to go to work, got it?”
“Got it, sister,” Cole nodded before turning back to his girls. “Now, where were we?”
Myriam walked away, grinning to herself as she considered heading back towards her car. There was still much of the island to get to know, and she only knew her partner and spent enough time with him on the job. She knew she could have called her old friend to see if he was still on vacation but the idea had a sour tinge to it and didn’t want to explore that option. It all brought her back to wondering where the hell her other brother was and what he was doing as she settled down on some benches.
“Oh hey,” Danny Williams’ voice said as he sat down next to Myriam. “How are you doing?”
“Are you…?”
“Stalking you? Nah. I’m stalking Gracie,” he said as he pointed to a young girl at the beach with some boys.
“Ah,” she nodded, confused for a moment. “Daughter? Before the rescue at my office, I actually thought…hm, never mind.”
“Thought what?”
Myriam smiled and looked away before facing him. “Well, I’m sure I wasn’t the first, and I wouldn’t be the last to suggest that you and your partner might be um, partners?”
Danny let out a laugh. “Funny. You’re very funny,” he then sighed. “Sure looks that way sometimes, doesn’t it?”
She gave a slow nod. “It is why I avoid getting close to those at work. Well, not more than necessary. It leads to complications.”
“Somehow I think you’ve been like that for a very long time,” he replied. “Aren’t you lonely?”
“I have my brothers,” Myriam pointed out, with a frustrated and concerned glance as she looked towards where Cole still messing with the surf classes. “I don’t have time for much, well before I came here. This island is driving me mad. I hate this place.”
“Yeah, I thought so too when I first came here,” Danny nodded. “Give it time; it’ll grow on you. For what it’s worth, I never wish to go back to New Jersey. Here you have the sun, sea, good food and friendly people.” He then looked over to where she was looking. “That the one who was in jail?”
She couldn’t help but snort at his support for the state. “I’m sorry, but I’m from New Orleans. No one can beat the food and the people there. And Cole was locked up,” she nodded towards him with a wistful sigh.
“True,” he nodded. “I miss good pizza,” he lamented. “He’ll be fine. He looks like he’s fitting in perfectly or at least having a ball and enjoying his freedom.”
“It’s not him I’m concerned about. He never actually did what he was locked up for. It was all a ruse I recently found out,” she murmured. “It’s my other brother that I can’t seem to figure out that has been out of the picture.”
“Criminal mastermind? But reformed?”
“He liked to think himself as one but only to try to keep our father off our backs back then,” she shrugged. “He never really wanted to get involved I remember. Just did what they needed to survive our father and uncles.”
“Ah… yeah… I made the mistake of believing my younger brother Matt that he was innocent in a large-scale fraud – he was a stockbroker, mind you. But the evidence was overwhelming, and I turned him in, but he escaped. Steve and I later found out he was messing with a Columbian drug cartel, and uh… he died.”
She looked at him from the corner of her eye. “I know what I saw then. What’s happening now I don’t understand…” at the mention of Steve’s name she couldn’t help but smirk. “How is your partner anyway?”
He laughed then. “You scared him shitless, but that’s a good thing. He’s eating himself up from the inside for screwing things up, but that’s his enthusiasm for ya,” he then shrugged. “If you want to, I could look into your brother’s movements for a piece of mind? Off the books? I won’t tell anyone.”
Myriam looked at him and hesitated for a moment before nodding. “You wouldn’t mind?”
“I know what it’s like not to have peace of mind; I can understand you’d want some. Especially with someone who’s been out of the picture for 15 years doing god knows what. You know, Steve thinks he recognizes your other brother from somewhere but waves it away even when his friend confirms it. Something to do with Wo Fat. I don’t care who killed the bastard, but I think your brother saved Steve then.”
She looked at him again, her eyes wide. “Don’t tell your partner but yes. My brother was involved, and I won’t say how to protect him. I knew Wo Fat, and the fact he’s dead does the world justice.”
“As I said, I don’t care about what your brother did to save Steve. And yes, you’re right,” Danny nodded. “So yeah, I’m happy to see if he’s toeing the line for you.”
She nodded, drawing in a breath. “Did I freak him out that much? Because he didn’t seem like the type to turn down a challenge when presented one.”
Danny raised an eyebrow. “The lieutenant was somewhat amused by your visit and understood knew what you were trying to do, telling him you have friends in higher places than him, and he backed off. Not that he’s happy about it, but if that’s your permission for him to accept the challenge, then I’ll tell him that. Should be interesting.”
Myriam shrugged. “I didn’t think he’d listen. He didn’t seem to before so… but your HPD officer isn’t wrong. I do know a lot of people, and I only use them when I need to. Like to fire half my team because they are morons.”
“Well then. I will give him the news tonight. So, to give me something to start with, what does Nick like?”
“Wine, gambling, I don’t know?”
“You never asked him since you were reunited?”
She shrugged then. “Out of the two, he’s the least forthcoming, and that frustrates me to no end.”
“I’ll become his best friend.”
Myriam barked out a laugh then. “If that works, I’ll buy you a drink!”
Danny grinned, turning his attention back to his daughter as he considered how that might appear in public. “Steve would be pissed if I managed to score that date with you before him.”