By Patricia Engel

Steve left the hospital and returned to Five-O.  As he came into the office he noticed Duke Lukela had joined them dressed in a suit, instead of his HPD uniform.  “Chin, Duke, Kono come into my office.”

As they sat down, Kono asked with deep concern in his voice, “How’s Danny doing, Steve?”

“He’ll be alright.  He’s not too happy about having been shot in the right shoulder.  He was wondering, why for once couldn’t it have been the left.”  They laughed.

“Danno told me that his trip through the painting left him with more questions than answers.  He has some concerns about one of the people he met.  Moli, the Queen’s healer.”  Steve looked at Kono for his opinion.

“I saw nothing that made me suspicious of him.  But wait a minute, Steve.  I got the feeling when he told me about seeing Wo Fat that maybe he wasn’t telling me everything.  But that’s all.”

Steve looked around at his men.  “So who’s next to go through the painting.”

Duke spoke up right now.  “I’ll go, Steve.  I would love very much to meet my Queen again.”

They all looked startled at this.  Duke realized what he had just said and knew that he’d better do some quick explaining.  “I accidentally went back in time and met the Queen, only she was just a Princess then.  I also met King Kalakaua too, although he was just a Prince then.  He was very protective of her.”

“I also met Auken, Adam Van Auken, the man who was painting the portrait.  In fact, he had fallen for the Princess, and I ended up saving her life when he tried to attack her.  I’m looking forward to going back and seeing if she remembers me.”  Then his voice went flat.  I also want to find out what Wo Fat has to do with this and why the attempt on Danny’s life.”  Steve nodded.

“Why didn’t you tell me/us about going back in time, Duke?”

“Because at the time Steve, I thought I was going mad.  Having those spells were frightening.  Still is.  I never told anyone about it.”

“I understand.  Be careful Duke.”  Steve approached the painting.  “All you have to do is to touch the painting and it sends you back in time.”  The others were watching very closely as Duke approached the painting and put his hand on it.  They watched as Duke’s hand went right through the painting and then he disappeared right before their eyes.

Steve sighed and turned away from the painting.  He’d noticed that the Queen had a very concerned expression on her face this time.   He got the feeling from here that she was possibly worried about them.  He prayed that Duke would be all right.  And that he would be able to ally her fears and her concern about Danny and his condition.

Duke rose to his feet and looked around to orient himself and discovered that he was not alone.  A young woman was in the chamber with him.  “I’m the Queen’s sister, Princess Lianie.” Duke bowed respectfully to the Princess, and then introduced himself.

“Princess, my name is Sergeant Duke Lukela.”

“Are you also from the future?”

“I am your Royal Highness, and I need to speak to the Queen,” There was an urgency to Duke’s voice.

The Princess left the room and then returned a few minutes later with the Queen.  “Your Majesty this is Sergeant Duke Lukela who is also from the future.  Sergeant, this is my sister, Queen Liliuokalani,” and the Queen looked at Duke curiously, then her eyes widened with recognition.

She came to him and gave him a hug.  He held her close for a couple of seconds before releasing her.  “I wasn’t sure you would remember me, my Queen.”

“Oh yes, Sergeant Lukela, there was no way I could forget a friend.  Especially you.”  She looked at her sister and then explained about meeting Duke several years ago.

Then the Queen turned back to him, deep concern in her face. “What about Danny Williams?  Is he all right?  I didn’t think that there was much we could do for him, so I thought he would be better off back in the future.”

“Yes, my Queen.  He received the medical treatment he needed. He will recover, but it will take some time.”

The two women both sighed in relief.

“Your Majesty, can you tell me what led to Danny’s being attacked?”

“A foreign man came into my room and threatened my life.  Liana heard me arguing with him and came to my assistance.  When I screamed, Danny came into the room to see what was wrong and I yelled to him that it was a trap.  The man attacked him with the knife.  We thought that it would be safer to send him back to his own time to receive treatment here.”

“Mahalo for sending the note with him.  It gave us more information to review.  But in this case, it left us with more questions then answers.  Where did this man come from?  Kono told us that a man named Wo Fat was involved in this mystery.  So we figured that the man who attacked Danny was one of his assassins,” Duke informed his Queen.

“Assassins?” the Queen asked.

“Paid killers, your Majesty.  Unfortunately we have encountered those assassins before.”

The Queen exchanged a look of horror with her sister.  Then the Princess voiced the thought that they both had.  “But why would he try to kill Danny?”

“Exactly.  That’s what we want to know.” Duke hesitated to ask his next question, but he plowed on.  “Danny has some concerns about a man he met here in the palace.  His name is Moli, a healer. He seemed to think that maybe he could be responsible for what has happened. He was after all, the man who saw Wo Fat.  When no one else has seen him or any of his men.”

“Moli?  He wouldn’t hurt a guest to the palace, and especially a guest of mine.”

Princess Liana nodded agreement to what her sister had just said.

“What if it was in jealously, my Queen?”  Duke questioned.

“Jealously?  Moli?”

“It’s happened before, your Majesty.”

The Queen sighed as the memories came flooding back.  “Yes, I remember, Duke.”

“Did Danny do anything that could have given Moli a reason to be jealous of him?”

The two ladies looked at each other and smiled.  “Just an appreciation of beauty. That’s all.”

Duke looked at the two ladies.  “Sometimes with Danny Williams that’s all it takes.

They looked at him in puzzlement.  Duke decided that he should explain what he had meant.  “Danny is very popular with the ladies and they seem to find him irresistible.”

The Queen nodded, “Yes, I can understand that.  There was something about Danny that could be irresistible, Duke.”

“My Queen, could you send for Moli and we could talk to him about the attack on Danny Williams?”

“Sure, Duke.”  The Queen sent one of her guards to find Moli and bring him to her.  “You are sure that Danny will be alright?”

“Yes, my Queen I am sure.  The doctors who are treating him are very positive.  But it’s his right shoulder that was damaged and he’s very upset about that.  Other than that, he will fully recover.”

The Queen and her sister both let out a sigh of relief.  Duke realized that they had both fallen for his irresistible nature, and he had heard the deep concern in her voice for Danny.  He smiled inwardly and thought to himself that it figures, Danny does it again.

Several minutes passed and the guard returned without Moli.  He reported that he was unable to find him.  No one had seen him all day.   The Queen told him to have the guards continue looking for him.  She wanted to talk to him more then ever now.

Now they would have wait until Moli was found and could be questioned concerning Danny’s attack.  It had been arranged for Duke to spend the night in the Palace.

He planned to stay close to the Queen until Moli was found and they could talk to him.  Duke decided to explore the Palace a bit.  He promised the Queen that he’d be careful, considering that she didn’t want him to be injured either.

Duke heard a scraping noise and he pressed himself back against the wall while he removed his gun from its holster.  A bullet hit the wall beside where he was standing.

Holding the gun in his right hand, Duke crouched down searching for the source of the shooting.  Duke saw a shadow and suddenly realized how exposed he was.  As he started searching for some kind of cover, he saw the man step out gun in hand and fire.

Duke stepped out and fired back at the man.  He saw a body hit the floor and went over to him.  He looked at the man and was not surprised to see that he was Chinese.  Duke started cursing under his breath.

Duke heard running footsteps and he recognized him as one of the Queen’s guards.  Duke explained what had happened and the body was removed.

Duke returned to the room where he had materialized earlier and the Queen and her sister were sent for.  Duke explained what had happened and told the Queen that he wanted to send the body back through the Painting to Steve McGarrett.

He suggested sending a note with the body explaining what had happened and that McGarrett would be able to find out who he was and anything else they might need to know.

The Queen agreed with Duke’s idea just as the dead body was brought into the room.  Lianie supplied Duke with paper, ink, and a quill pen.  Duke wrote a quick note explaining what had happened and his suggestion regarding the body, he also said that he was all right and unharmed.  Then the body was sent back through the painting.

Duke sighed, then turned to look at her Majesty, and the Princess. The Queen approached him searching his face.

“Duke, are you alright?  You were not hurt?”  The Queen asked as she touched his shoulder.

“I’m alright, he didn’t hurt me.”

“I’m very grateful for that, my aikane.”

The Princess turned to look at her sister in surprise.  She had never seen her sister look at nor speak to a man in that way.

The Queen ignored Lianie.  “Do you plan on roaming the halls of the Palace any more tonight my aikane?”

“No, my Queen.  I think I have had enough adventures for one day.”  Duke looked at both ladies.  “I will say goodnight to you then and see you in the morning.”

“Goodnight Duke,” The Queen said as she left the room with Duke right behind her.

In the morning, a guard reported to the Queen that Moli had been found at last.  “Well, where he is then?  We’d very much like to talk to him.”  The Queen questioned impatiently.

“I’m sorry, your majesty.  Moli is dead.  He has a dagger in his heart.”

Duke cursed under his breath.  He looked over at the guard. “Would you take me to see Moli, please?”

“Yes, sir.”  He replied after looking at the Queen for instructions, and received a nod in response.

Duke examined the body of Moli, and checked his pockets for anything that might help him, but found them empty.

Duke sighed and returned to report back to the Queen.  “Moli looks as if he has been dead for several hours.  Aside from that, nothing!”  Duke spoke in frustration.  Before he could do anything else he found himself back in Steve’s office at Five-O.

He looked over at Steve in frustration.

Original content © 2000-2001
Betty's Book Me Danno
Originally Posted April 8, 2001