By Terri Whitman

A crossover of Hawaii Five-0, Quincy, and Magnum P.I.

A city of intrigue and suspense, Honolulu sits in the middle of the blue Pacific Ocean.  It’s a tantalizing city with a diversity of cultures and tastes.  It can also be a very dangerous to live or to vacation there.  HDP is there to protect its citizens and tourist.  But when they come across a case that is out of their capabilities, they turn the case over to the State’s top police unit, Hawaii Five-0 and at the head of this top police unit is Steve McGarrett, a no-nonsense cop.

Lately, a rash of crimes, which involved tourist visiting the Islands in their private yachts, had been plaguing HPD.  This latest case, though, had involved a tourist who had died in route to Oahu. That was when Chief Dan decided to turn the problem over to Five-0 to let them handle it.

HPD already had its officers at the yacht questioning the crew and a friend of the dead boat owner, Glen Cagley, when a large shinny black Mercury stopped along the pier.  When McGarrett got out of the car, he took a moment to look around the pier and at the yacht docked at the edge.  He saw that an uniformed HPD officer was talking with someone on the yacht.  After he closed the door to his car, he walked over to the side of the yacht.

“Hold on a moment, the man you want to ask your questions to has just arrived,” Officer Dennis Azevedo said as he pointed towards Five-0’s top cop who had just boarded the yacht.  As the officer stepped towards McGarrett, the man he was questioning turned with him.  A look of surprise and relief appeared on the tourist’s face.

“Steve!  Steve McGarrett!” the heavy set and slightly balding man called out.

A smile of recognition appeared on McGarrett’s face when he realized who the man was.  “Quincy!  What in the devil are you doing in Hawaii?” he asked his old friend.  He had known Quincy from Korea when he had served as a medic.

“My friend invited me to sail to Hawaii to visit his friend here in Hawaii.  Well, you know me, I’m not one to turn down a free vacation,” Quincy said with a smile.

“Yeah, I remember your last vacation.  It almost got the two of us thrown in a Mexican jail down in Baha,” McGarrett reminded him.  “If you hadn’t proven to the Mexican authorities that we didn’t have anything to do with those drugs, we’d still probably be cooling our heals in one of their prisons.”

Officer Azevedo’s face had a questioning look on it when he heard about this exploit that this man, that he almost revered, had done in years past.

McGarrett saw his face and smiled, “It’s okay Dennis, Quincy and I go way back.  This man is one of the best investigative coroner’s that I know of.”

“Don’t let Doc Bergman hear you say that bruddah, or you might get a shot of something extra the next time he has to take care of you,” teased Officer Azevedo.  He knew that Doctor Bergman was the departmental doctor for the Five-0 unit and was fiercely protective of his people.

“I don’t think Bergman has anything to worry about,” Quincy told the HPD officer.  “I’m not planning on getting Steve into any trouble.”

“Did you have any other questions for Quincy?” McGarrett asked.  He wanted to start his own investigation of this case.

“Yeah, other then where will you be staying at?” Officer Azevedo asked Quincy.

“Well, I had planned on staying aboard.  Glen and I hadn’t planned on getting a hotel room while we were here, just to stay on board,” Quincy told the officer.

“Okay, if you do decide to get a room somewhere, please let us know.  And, before you leave the Islands, let us know.  Other then that, you’re free to go and I’ll turn you over to Mr. McGarrett here,” Officer Azevedo said as he closed his notebook and saluted to McGarrett before he departed.

Both men watched as the officer left.  They then had to stand aside as the ambulance attendants carried the body of Quincy’s friend off the yacht.  Neither man said anything as they watched the ambulance leave.

After a moment longer, McGarrett turned to his friend.  He sized him up before he decided the best way to approach him.  “Quincy, what can you tell me about what happened on board?” he asked in an authoritative but friendly tone.

“We had docked at Maui for two days to get supplies.  We had intentions of sailing over to some of the other islands past Kauai.  Maybe visit Midway and Wake Islands,” Quincy told him.  “Glen was going to stop here at Oahu to visit his friend, Robin Masters, for a few days before we set sail again.  We had almost cleared the channel when Glen became violently ill.  I wasn’t sure what was wrong with him, so I told Jim, the first mate, to take over the controls and get us to Oahu as quick as he could.”  Quincy paused a moment to catch his breath and think of what had happened next.  “I tried to keep Glen alive, but I didn’t have too much to work with other then a basic first-aid kit.  Before we made harbor, Glen quit breathing.  Shawn, one of the crew members, and I started CPR but it wasn’t effective.”

McGarrett listened to Quincy as he retold the events of what happened.  “Why didn’t you call the Coast Guard?  They could have sent a helicopter and picked him up,” he asked.  He couldn’t understand why he hadn’t called for help.

A hurt look came over Quincy’s face.  “Steve, I did have Jim try and call, but for some reason the radio wouldn’t work,” he said in his defense,  “I even had him shoot off a flare, but apparently no one saw it.”

McGarrett looked at his friend and was about to say something when Che came out of the yacht’s cabin.  He had heard the last of McGarrett’s statement to Quincy.  “Steve, I’ve checked the radio, and there is no way they could have called for help,” he told him.  He then turned to Quincy for his next question.  “During your sail, did any of you smell something burning?”

Jim, the first mate, had just walked up to the three men.  Quincy looked at him for a moment before he answered.  “No, not that I can recall, but then I spent most of the time out on the deck, not at the bridge.”

McGarrett turned to the first mate now, “How about you?  Did you smell something?”

Jim shook his head as he answered.  “The way the yacht is designed and with the wind, there would be no way I’d smell anything.  It’s too open to the air around the radio,” he told McGarrett.

“He’s right Steve.  The bridge is just too open,” confirmed Che.

“I was too busy trying to get us to Oahu too, to try and find out why the radio didn’t work,” Jim said in his defense.  “None of the others knew how to navigate this ship nor the channel, so I had to do it.”

McGarrett walked up to the bridge to see about the radio.  The bridge was at the top of the yacht and very open to the air around them.  It was also positioned a little behind where someone would have steered the boat.  Any odor from it would have been impossible to smell if the yacht cruised at any speed.  He didn’t see anything out of the ordinary, so he walked back down to where Quincy and the others stood.

“See what I mean, Mr. McGarrett.  Unless we were dead still in the water with the wind coming in behind us, there would be no way to smell it,” the first mate said.

“So I see,” McGarrett said as he studied the man for a moment.  “From the time Mr. Cagley became ill and the time you arrived at this dock, how long would you said it was?”

“It was about an hour and a half give or take ten minutes.  I pushed the engines as much as I could to get us here,” Jim told him.  “As it was, we were going fast enough to make it hard for them to help Glen at times.”

“I can attest to that.  I thought we were all going end up in the ocean with that one wave.  I had my hands full just trying to keep Glen from going over board,” Quincy said as he remembered how hard the yacht pitched as they made for Oahu.

“Okay.  My office will be checking things out more in the next few days.  How long do you plan on staying here, Quincy?” McGarrett asked his friend.

“I’m not sure.  I’m going to put in a call to Glen’s friend, Robin Masters and see if he could help us out.  Then, maybe with a new captain at the helm, sail the yacht back to California,” Quincy told him.  “Do you know him?  He’s supposed to be a philanthropist of sorts here on Oahu.  Glen told me he has a place here just off the beach.”

“Yeah, I know him and Higgins, who takes care of the place for him when he’s gone.  I also know the P.I., Thomas Magnum, who is living there,” McGarrett said as he remembered the run ins he’d had with him.  “I didn’t know Robin Masters was back on the Islands though,” he said as he made a mental note to check on that.

“Glen told me he was going to be here for a few months while he wrote a new book.  He had even planned on going with us,” Quincy informed him.

McGarrett didn’t say anything for a moment.  He was wondering if the yacht owner’s death was accidental or if it was planned.  A yacht this size would be just what drug runners could use.  So far, two yachts had been pirated in the open seas between two islands.  The Coast Guard had found the owners and passengers adrift in lifeboats.

“Okay.  Why don’t you let me know what your plans are once you’ve figured them out,” McGarrett told him.  “Maybe we can have dinner or something together while you’re here.”

“Right.  I remember how hard it was the last time we tried to get together.  First I had an emergency and then you had, or should I say, were an emergency when you got your head hurt in that fowled up kidnap attempt,” Quincy reminded him.

“Well, hopefully, this time there won’t be any emergencies to get in the way,” McGarrett responded back with a smile.  He then turned back to Che.  “When you get done here, Che, I’d like that report as soon as possible.”

“No problem Steve,” Che said.  “I should have it ready for you by this afternoon.  It doesn’t look like there was too much here to indicate fowl play.  Everything looks normal, nothing out of place,” the small oriental told the head of Five-0.

“Gentlemen, aloha, and Quincy, I hope we can get together before you leave.  Che, I’ll see you back at the office,” McGarrett said as he headed back to his car.  The four men watched him disembark and go up to his car.

Che Fong was true to his word and had his report for McGarrett by mid-afternoon.  It didn’t contain very much usable information.  He hadn’t found any outside reason why Glen Cagley should have died so quickly.

McGarrett sat behind his desk reading the report when his phone rang. 
“McGarrett,” he answered.

“Steve, I’ve got Doctor Bergman on the line.  He wants to talk with you.  It’s about the autopsy he performed on Mr. Cagley,” May told him.

“Put him through please,” McGarrett told his secretary.  “Yes, Doc.  What have you found?”

“I now know what killed that yacht owner, Steve,” Doctor Bergman told him.

“Okay, okay.  What was it or are you going to keep me in suspense?” McGarrett with a testy tone.  Doctor Bergman was the Medical Examiner and the personal physician for those on the Five-0 unit and loved to tease the top cop of the unit.  He always managed to keep him on his toes, so to speak.

“He was poisoned,” the Medical Examiner told him flatly.

“Poisoned?  Poisoned with what?” McGarrett asked him as he leaned forward in his chair.

“Apparently, he had ingested some arsenic in something he ate,” Doctor Bergman told him.

“Arsenic?  How did he get that?  Why wasn’t others affected by it then?” McGarrett said back to the M. E.  His mind was already thinking ahead.  * Why wasn’t anyone else in the crew affected?  If it was in the food, did Cagley eat the only item that contained the poison?  And mostly, who put the poison in the food and why? *

“I can’t answer those questions Steve.  That’s your job.  I only do the post-mortems, remember,” Doctor Bergman said.  He knew McGarrett wasn’t really asking him this question, but that this was one of the ways his mind started to work when it was on a case.

“Thanks, Doc.  Get me a copy of your report please,” McGarrett told him.

“On its way to you now,” Doctor Bergman told him.

When McGarrett finished his conversation with the Medical Examiner, he walked over to his door and opened it.  “Danno!  Chin!  Duke!” he called out and walked back into his office.

Soon the others joined him so McGarrett began to inform his team of what he had learned so far.

“Danno, I want you to get in the computer and see if the other yacht owners had gotten sick prior to their begin boarded and forced off their yachts.  Chin, I want you to check out who the crews had been on those boats and see where they might have obtained their food supplies.  Duke, I want you to fly to Maui and check out where the…what’s the name of the yacht?” McGarrett said as he went back to his desk to look through the file.

“It’s the ‘Rising Dawn’ Steve,” Danno quickly supplied his boss with this information.

McGarrett looked over at his young detective and smiled.  “Thanks Danno. The ‘Rising Dawn’.  Duke, I want you to see where they docked.  How long they were docked there and if anyone could have had access to the yacht without the crew knowing it. And, where did Cagley get his food supplies?”

“What about the crew itself, Steve?  Do you think they could be involved with this?” Chin asked.

“I’m not sure Chin, but I don’t think so.  I’m going to go over to the yacht myself and ask them some more questions,” McGarrett told him.  “Let’s get going gentlemen.  I want to solve this one quick now before anyone else is killed,” he told his men as he led the way out of his office.

McGarrett drove his Mercury back to the pier where the Rising Dawn was docked.  His friend, Quincy, had seen him pull up and was waving to him as he walked down the pier.

“Steve.  I didn’t think I’d be seeing you this quick again,” Quincy told him.

“Well, I didn’t think I would need to be back this soon either,” McGarrett told him.  “Is the entire crew here right now?  I need to ask all of you some more questions.”

Quincy looked around and saw Jim, the first mate.  “Jim!” he called out and waved to him to come over.  “Is everyone on board right now?  Steve has some questions he wants to ask?” he asked him.

“Everyone but Paul Sanders,” Jim told the two men.  “He left shortly after we docked.  Said he had some friends here and wanted to see them before we left again.”

McGarrett’s eyebrows raised at this information.  “Did he say who his friends were?” he questioned the first mate.

“No.  He never was one to talk to much during the voyage.  Most of us talked up a storm you might say, what with not much to do during our off time.  But Paul never was one to get into any conversations,” Jim said.  “I sort of thought that he must be very shy or something as he always kept to himself so much.”

The other crewmembers had joined them by now.  Each one expressed the same feelings about Paul.

“Who hired the crew?” McGarrett asked.

“Glen normally had a full crew all the time.  Always hired the same people who have sailed with him before.  That way we knew what to expect from each other in case of trouble at sea,” Jim told McGarrett.  “This time though, John Cruppers couldn’t make it.  He was side lined with appendicitis and wouldn’t be able to join us.  Being that he was short handed, he asked around as was told about Paul.”

“Do you know where this Paul Sanders came from?” McGarrett asked.

“Not really, Mr. McGarrett.  Like I said he didn’t talk to much about himself,” Jim replied.

“Why do you want to know about the crew Steve?” Quincy asked.

“Because your friend had been poisoned with arsenic,” McGarrett told his friend.  “Hawaii has also been having a rash of piracies lately with tourists and their large yachts.”

“You’re thinking that this might have been meant to commandeer the Rising Dawn?” Quincy asked.  “But why kill Glen and not everyone one?  It doesn’t make any sense.”

“I’m not sure yet.  But we’re working on a possible lead along that way,” McGarrett told him.

No one spoke for a moment as they reflected on how their friend had been killed and the possible motive for it.  Jim and several of the crew had walked over to the railing and were looking out at the bay.  They couldn’t believe that there were still pirates out there somewhere on the ocean.

Quincy took this time to inform McGarrett of the change in plans that had been made.  “Steve, you told me to let you know if I wasn’t going to be staying on the yacht.  I called Robin Masters and he has offered to put all of us up at this place until we can decide what to do,” Quincy said.  “We were just packing our belongings and were going to call a cab to take us to Robin’s Nest.”

McGarrett had been watching the five crew members and his friend.  When Quincy told him of the change in plans, he turned to face his friend again.  “Did you all eat the same food on the trip?” he asked.

“Well, no.  Glen and I ate separate from the crew at times.  It depended a lot on the time schedules and such.  The crew hadn’t eaten yet when Glen and I had our dinner.  But I didn’t eat the same thing Glen ate at this last meal,” Quincy told him.  He was starting to get an idea of where McGarrett’s thoughts were going on this investigation.

“What was served?” McGarrett asked before Quincy had time to continue.

“I served some fresh caught albacore to Quincy and Glen had the clams,” Jim offered as he walked back to McGarrett and Quincy.

“Was anyone else going to have the clams?” McGarrett asked him as he turned back to the first mate.

“Yes, the entire crew was going to have it.  I almost served it to Quincy, but then I remembered he had told me he was allergic to it,” Jim answered.

“But the crew didn’t get to eat theirs because Glen became so ill so quick that we had to move fast,” Quincy filled in.

“What happened to the meal then?” McGarrett asked.  He knew that no poison had been found on the yacht.

“I’m not sure,” Quincy answered and looked to Jim who shrugged his shoulders indicating he didn’t know either.

Jim then turned back to the rest of the crew, “Shawn, what happened to the clams that were prepared for dinner?”

“Paul was taking care of that, Jim.  He said something about what a shame that we’d be missing such a feast, that the clams would spoil before we would be ate them,” Shawn replied.  “I guess he threw them overboard when he cleaned up the galley.”

A look of disappointment appeared briefly on McGarrett’s face when he realized that the possible proof to the poisoning was gone.  “So, Paul cleaned up after that meal?” McGarrett asked.  The connection of the food and possible the person who prepared the meal started to come together in his mind.

“Yeah, he offered to cook and tend to the galley today,” Shawn said.  “We normally take turns on the cooking, that way no one is stuck all the time with that chore.”

McGarrett’s eyes brightened up when he heard this.  “Do you know where this ‘friend’ lives?” he asked almost hoping for too much luck in finding out who had poisoned Mr. Cagley.

“No, he never told me,” Jim said as he turned back to his men.  “Did Paul ever mention where his friend lived here to any of you?”  All the rest of the crew shook their heads negatively.  “Doesn’t look like he did Mr. McGarrett.  I wish we could be of more help.”

“Steve, are you thinking that this was an inside job?” Quincy asked.

“It had to be,” McGarrett said emphatically.  “You said Mr. Cagley became sick almost immediately after he ate but that none of the crew had eaten yet.  If the poison had been placed in the clams before they were served and if the rest of the crew was suppose to eat it soon afterwards…”

“Then they would have been poisoned too.  But being that Jim served me something different…” Quincy interrupted as he finished McGarrett’s line of thought.

“Right,” McGarrett said as he clenched his fist and shook it a little for more emphasis.  He then turned to Jim, the first mate, again, “You said you served Quincy albacore.  Did you fix it yourself or did Paul fix it?”

“Paul had already fixed the clams and like I said, I was about to serve him that when I remembered he had told me about his allergy.  That’s when I asked Glen if he wanted to go ahead and eat or wait until I could fix something different for Quincy,” Jim informed the Five-0 chief.

“So Paul cooked it, but you did the serving?” McGarrett asked him.

“Well, yes.  I always serve Glen and his guests.  The crew would have served themselves,” Jim said.  “You’re not thinking I put the poison in his food?” he said a bit defensively.

“You’ve got to be crazy Steve if you think Jim would have done that,” Quincy said as his eyes narrowed as he looked at his friend.

“No,” McGarrett replied.  “What I’m trying to do is confirm the path the food had taken.  What did Glen tell you when you asked about serving him ahead of Quincy?” he said as he continued with his questioning.

Quincy paused for a moment to think about exactly what his friend had said.  “He told Jim to hold off serving him until my meal was ready, which he did,” Quincy said again in defense of Jim.

“That’s right Mr. McGarrett.  Glen told me not to serve him yet, that he’d rather eat with his friend,” Jim said.

“When you took Mr. Cagley’s plate back, what did Paul do with it?” McGarrett asked him.

“Nothing, he wasn’t there, so I just dumped it back in with the rest of the clams so that they would stay warm.  Then I went about fixing the albacore.  When it was ready, I served both of them,” Jim answered.

“And it was while we were eating that Glen got sick,” Quincy added.

“I hadn’t cleared the door when Glen cried out in pain,” Jim told McGarrett.  “And that’s when all hell broke loose and I went to the bridge to get us here as quick as I could.  Quincy yelled up to me to call the Coast Guard, which I tried to do.  But the radio was out of commission, so I thought of shooting up a distress flare.”

“That’s when Shawn was busy trying to help me with Glen, Steve,” Quincy said, but his mind had also started to think along the lines that McGarrett was leading.

“Do you happen to have a picture of Paul Sanders?” McGarrett asked, as he was positive now who the killer was, but the reason for the killing still had yet to be discovered.  “I want to put out an APB out on him as soon as I can.”

“I think I’ve got a picture of him in one of the rolls of film I took during the voyage,” Quincy said as he went over to his suitcase and opened it up.  He pulled out five rolls of film and handed them to McGarrett.

After he placed the film in the pocket of his jacket, McGarrett smiled at Quincy and the crew.  “Gentlemen, if you’re all ready, I can take you to Robin’s Nest.  I need to talk to Robin Masters as it is,” he said as he waved in the direction of his car.

Quincy was startled at the abrupt change in subject, but quickly followed the suggestion and picked up his suitcase.  The other crewmembers did the same as they disembarked from the Rising Dawn and walked up the pier to the large black Mercury.

Danny looked up when he heard the door to the office open.  When he saw McGarrett, he got up and met his boss as McGarrett walked to his office.  “Boy do I have a surprise for you, Steve.  Guess who was a crewmember on all of those other yachts that were commandeered?” he said excitedly.

“Paul Sanders,” McGarrett said as he sat down in his chair.

Danny stopped dead in his tracks when he heard his friend reply with the answer that had taken him most of the day to find.  “How did you know?” he asked with a look of surprise on his face.  It still amazed him how McGarrett could find the answers before anyone else could.

“Remember, I had gone to have a talk with Quincy and the crew, well, Mr. Paul Sanders took off right after they docked.  He was the one who had prepared the poisoned meal,” McGarrett replied with a smile as he told his second-in-command.  “Mr. Sanders had just been hired on by Mr. Cagley just before they sailed.  He was the one who prepared the meal just before Mr. Cagley became sick and died.  Did you check in the computer about Mr. Sanders?”

“Yeah.  He’s got a previous record for grand theft auto and assault.  I’ve also got some information from the prison that he was buddy-buddy with several men who were serving time for transporting drugs and in grand theft of a private jet.  They had used the jet to fly the drugs into the States.  They gave me their names,” Danny said as he handed McGarrett the computer print out.

McGarrett studied the sheets of information.  Included in the packet was a print out of Paul Sanders image.  When he saw this he remembered the film and reached into his pocket, to withdrew the five containers of film, which he handed to Danny.  “Quincy gave me these.  Somewhere in these is a current picture of Sanders.  Have the lab develop them and run off a copy of him.  Then put out an APB on him.  I want all the Islands to get the word to keep an eye out for him,” he said as he looked up from the paperwork.

“Will do Steve,” Danny replied as he pocketed the film.  “Chin was the one who made the connection of Sanders.  We worked together on it after I found that all the other boat owners and crew had gotten sick and then were forced off their yachts.  Fortunately though, no one had died,” he said as he filled in his boss on what they had found.

“Where’s Chin now?” McGarrett asked.  When he had come in, he had noticed that he was gone.

“He’s had to go out on another lead on the Thomason case.  He should be back shortly,” Danny told him.

McGarrett had assigned the Thomason case to Chin several days before and they were close to finding the bank robber.  “Okay.  Have him report in when he arrives.  What about Duke, have you heard from him yet?”

“Yeah, he’s on his way back.  All the boat owners had bought their supplies from different and reliable stores.  No connection there at all,” the young detective informed him.

“Okay, Danny, well done.  Before I came back, I drove Quincy and the rest of the crew over to Robin Masters.  I met with Higgins and Magnum while I was there and asked them to keep an eye on them,” McGarrett said.

“You’re not thinking that someone else in the crew was involved, are you?” Danny asked.  To him it looked like they had the identity to the killer and he couldn’t see why McGarrett would suspect anyone else on the yacht.

“No, I just want to make sure they’re taken care of.  Robin Masters has offered to put them up for awhile until it can be decided what to do with the yacht and all,” McGarrett told his young friend.  “I’ve got the lab going back over the yacht.  I want them to go through all of Sanders stuff.  Maybe he got careless and left the container that held the poison behind.”

“I bet he tossed it when he tossed the food out,” Danny commented.

“Probably,” McGarrett said as he leaned back in his chair.

Danny looked at his boss for a moment.  He thought about asking another question in regard to his friendship with Quincy but then decided not to.  McGarrett wasn’t very open sometimes about his past and didn’t offer too much either when he talked about it.

“What is it Danno?” McGarrett asked when he saw a questioning look on the young detective’s face.

Danno looked down for a moment and then looked at his friend.  “I was just wondering how well you knew this Quincy,” he said.

McGarrett looked at him for a moment and then looked out the window behind him at the setting sun.  “I’ve known him for several years Danno.”  He paused for a moment as he remembered those years.  “He was one of the doctors that was on the ship that I was on when I was medi-vac to.  He and Bergman were the main doctors on the ship.”

“Ah.  So, Doc Bergman knows him too.  That’s interesting,” Danny said.

“Yeah,” McGarrett said with a sigh.  He had tried to forget those years, but they returned to haunt him at unexpected times like now.  If it hadn’t been for both Bergman and Quincy, he doubted if he’d still be alive today.  He stood up and walked out to the lanai.  The night breeze didn’t do much to pull him out of the somber mood he had slipped into.

Danny saw that McGarrett’s was disturbed by these memories and followed him out to the lanai.  He didn’t say anything as he stood there watching the palace grounds.

After several minutes McGarrett turned to Danny and looked at him.  He saw a young man who had a lot to go for him, a future that lay wide open yet.  He was glad he had chosen him to be on the Five-0 team but he also wondered what would Danny have done had he of chosen a career in some other field.  He knew that Danny hadn’t served any time in any of the conflicts around the world, but that he still served, like himself, in the Reserves though.

Finally, McGarrett decided that he’d had enough of this case today and wanted to leave.  “Come on Danno, let’s call it a day and attack this tomorrow,” he said as he walked back into his office.  “Give Chin a call and tell him to report tomorrow with his information,” he said as he grabbed his coat from the rack.

McGarrett had set his alarm for 5:30 AM that morning.  He had wanted to get a run in before he went to the office.  These runs helped clear his mind of the memories of his past that haunted him so often.  It was also a great stress releaser for him.  The Governor had been on him now for several weeks about these pirated yachts.  His meeting the day before had left him feeling more on edge after the Governor had demanded more results then what had been obtained.

After his run, McGarrett felt refreshed.  The cobwebs were gone and he had a new idea on how to catch these thieves.  He would just need some help from some people to make it work.

Danny was already in the office when McGarrett came in that morning.  As McGarrett walked through the office, he indicated to his men that he wanted to meet with them in his office.  When Danny, Chin and Duke were in his office, he began.

“I’ve got a plan on how we might be able to catch these pirates,” McGarrett told his team.  He had one of his smiles on his face that he’d get whenever he thought up a trap to catch someone.

“I’ve just had a talk with Robin Masters and Quincy.  We’re going to allow them to use Glen’s yacht for some cruising around the Islands.  They’ll be hiring some new people to act as her crew too,” McGarrett said as he told them of his plans.

“You mean, use them as bait?” Chin asked with a worried expression.

“Right,” McGarrett told him.  “But, we’ll have a tracking device put on the yacht well hidden from view.  Quincy, Jim, Shawn and the others will be taking Higgins with them.  I’ve told them to allow themselves to be boarded and not to fight in any way, but to go along with whatever demands are given to them,” he added.

“How do we know that the pirates will jump at this Steve?” Duke asked.

“We don’t.  We’re going to advertise the need of some new crewmembers for this cruise in the hope that they will try to plant another member of their team on this yacht,” McGarrett said as he explained more of the set up to his men.

An advertisement appeared in the Star Bulletin that day for the need of additional crewmembers for the Rising Dawn.  Within hours of the ad hitting the streets, two men applied for the job and were hired.  With the new crewmembers on board, the Rising Dawn headed out to sea to tour the Islands around Hawaii.

The Rising Dawn had been out to sea for four hours when Jim served the first meal to Higgins and Quincy.  Jarrett Solomon, one of the new crewmembers, had been hired on as the cook and had prepared the meal.  The rest of the crew had been invited to eat with them at the same time.  Shortly after eating the meal, Higgins and Quincy started to get sleepy.  One by one, those who had eaten the mean fell asleep.

Jarrett looked at the sleeping crew and smiled at his friend, Mark Greiner.  He nodded his head as they got the dinghy ready along side the yacht.

“How long will they be out?” Greiner asked as he helped Jarrett move the sleeping crew into the dinghy.

“About an hour.  At least I didn’t poison them like that stupid Paul tried to do,” Jarrett said.  When Paul had made it to Jarrett’s place and told him what had happened, he had decided that Paul was of no further service to their needs and had killed him.  Mark and he had taken his body out on one of the boats and had secured some weights to it and dropped it into the sea between Maui and Oahu.  He was sure they had used enough weights to keep the body down there and so that it wouldn’t drift with the currents.

He still needed to get another yacht for his customer and wasn’t sure how he was going to do this until he seen the ad about the opening on the Rising Dawn.  He was sure that the law wouldn’t think that anyone would try for the yacht again, so he and Mark signed on with the intentions of stealing the Rising Dawn when she was out to sea.  He also wanted to make sure that no one was killed this time as he didn’t want to face a murder rap should he be caught.

Once they had the seven men in the dinghy, they released it and allowed it to drift away from the yacht.  When they were clear, Jarrett gunned the engines and turned the yacht towards the open seas.  When they didn’t see was all seven of the men sit up and grab a bag that had been stowed under the seats.

“This is Quincy calling the Coast Guard, Quincy calling the Coast Guard,” Quincy said into the radio.

“This is the Coraltown, go ahead Quincy,” the radio operator said.

“Tell McGarrett and Magnum, they’ve taken the bait.  All of us are okay but we could use a lift,” Quincy told them.

“Will do.  We’ve got both you and the Rising Dawn on our scopes.  We’ll pick you up in about 30 minutes,” the radio operator told him.

McGarrett had been waiting on the Capetown for the call from the Coast Guard.  When the call came, he asked Captain Stedman to head out to meet with the Coraltown to pick up the crew of the Rising Dawn.  He had promised Quincy that he could be there when they busted the pirates.

As they set sail, a helicopter flew over head.  It hovered above the Capetown for a moment as it made contact with them.

“Magnum to McGarrett,” Magnum radioed.

“This is McGarrett,” McGarrett answered as he waved to the helicopter.

“I’ve got a fix on the Rising Dawn.  TC and I will follow it,” Magnum told the Five-0 chief.

“Ten-four.  We’re going to meet with the Coraltown to pick up Quincy, Higgins and the rest of the crew and then we’re going after the Rising Dawn,” McGarrett told him.  “Just be careful Magnum.  We don’t know if they’re armed or not,” he reminded him.

“Don’t worry.  TC and I have come up with some things to throw back at them if they try anything,” Magnum said with a smile as he held one of the canisters.

“Just be careful,” McGarrett reminded him.  He knew Magnum had a habit of being impetuous at times and several times did things that were close to being illegal.  He also knew that Magnum and his friends were tight and whenever one of them was in trouble that, the others would come to their aid.

The Capetown soon had enough steam up to be able to follow the course the helicopter had taken.  Within 45 minutes they had come along side the Coraltown and helped the crew of the Rising Dawn to come on board.  When the transfer was completed, the Capetown and Coraltown started off after the Rising Dawn.

Magnum and TC soon had the Rising Dawn in sight and radioed back it’s position.

Jarrett heard the helicopter and turned around to see it.  “Mark, we’re being followed,” he yelled at his friend.

“Yeah, I see that,” as he grabbed the rifle he had brought with him in his duffel bag.  He took aim and fired at the helicopter but he missed it as the helicopter ducked.

“Watch it TC,” yelled Magnum.

“I am.  You didn’t say anything about getting shot at,” TC yelled back.

“Good thing we brought these with us.  Get ahead of them and try to dive in close so I can toss one of these,” Magnum said as he prepared one of the gas grenades.

“And just how am I suppose to get close enough without getting bird shot out of the air?” TC asked as he increased the speed.

“I’ll shoot back to make them duck and as we pass over, I’ll toss the container out,” Magnum told him.  “Just get me close enough so I can get it on board.”

“Right,” TC said as he dove for the yacht.

Jarrett watched as the helicopter got in front of the yacht and began its dive towards the ship.  Both he and Mark opened fired on the helicopter as it dove but had to take cover when shots were fired back at them.

Magnum saw his opportunity and tossed out the canister, which had been timed so that it would activate as soon as it hit the deck.  He also got lucky in that the canister rolled into the cabin and far enough away from the two men that they were unable to get to it.

The arid smoke soon enveloped the yacht with tear gas and caused the two men to go into coughing fits that were strong enough that they dropped their weapons.

“Solomon and Greiner!  Turn off the engines and put your weapons down,” Magnum told the men over the PA system.

Solomon looked up at the helicopter again and fired his pistol but missed as TC pulled up the helicopter out of harms way.

Magnum fired back and hit the man in the chest after TC had brought the helicopter back within range.

When Mark saw his friend go down, he quickly tossed his rifle to the deck and put his hands up.

“Shut the engines off Greiner and toss your friends pistol over to your rifle, then put your hands on your head and stay where you are,” Magnum told him as TC kept the helicopter in position.

Soon both the Capetown and the Coraltown came along side the Rising Dawn.  McGarrett, Danny and Quincy led a team onto the stolen yacht and took custody of the pirates.

“Book ‘em Danno, one count of piracy and maybe murder-one,” McGarrett said as he shoved Jarrett towards his officer.

After the two pirates were in custody on the Capetown, McGarrett turned to Quincy.  “I guess that will take care of the Hawaiian Pirates for awhile.  You and the crew can follow us back to Honolulu,” he told his old friend.

“No problem Steve.  After all this paperwork is done how about you and Mr. Williams, here, join us for a small cruise?” Quincy asked.

Danny looked at his boss with hopeful eyes.  It had been a long time since he had had a day off and the thought of a cruise appealed to him.

McGarrett smiled when he saw his friend’s face.  “That sounds like a good idea.  Then you and I can have a good talk,” he told Quincy.

The four men looked up at the helicopter and waved when they heard Magnum’s voice.  “We’ll see you back at Robin’s Nest Higgins,” Magnum said over the PA before TC turned the helicopter back to land.

Danny couldn’t believe that McGarrett had decided to take time off to take a cruise.  But they had plenty of time now.  After they got Solomon and Greiner booked, they had questioned each separately and had found out that they were the ones who had been stealing the yachts to make the drug runs.  When McGarrett had pressed Greiner, he broke and had told him about Paul Sander’s part in the crimes and that Solomon had shot Sanders and where they had dumped the body.  McGarrett had then talked to the D. A. and was able to make a deal for Greiner of a lessor charge in return for turning States evidence for them.

Now they were anchored in a quiet bay having a dinner prepared by Shawn.  He was serving the fresh fish they had caught during the day.

“You sure there’s no poison in this,” teased Danny.

“Well, if there is, we have the best Medical Examiner around to find out what was used,” McGarrett told him.

“Ah, you better be careful of that title Steve.  I’ve heard that Bergman is a bit touchy when it comes to the care of you guys.  And I’d rather not have him on my tail, if you don’t mind,” Quincy said.

“You better believe it Quincy,” Bergman said as he came up from the cabin.  “Hands off them.  Although, sometimes it would be nice to have some help when it comes to patching up these two, especially Steve.  What would it be Steve, the 40^th or 50^th time now, that I’ve patched you up since I first met you?”

“I plead the fifth, gentlemen,” McGarrett said.

Danny couldn’t help himself as he broke into laughter at the thought of McGarrett using the fifth to get out of answering his friend’s questions.  Soon everyone was laughing at the joke and they started to talk of the first time they met in Korea, the evening sun displayed another beautiful tropical sunset for the end of the day.

Pau

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Original content © 2001
Betty's Book Me Danno
Original Posted April 8, 2001