I apologise profusely for this taking so long my darlings. I've been on a ten day stint at work and my days off before that were taken up with getting my poor dog to the vet for an operation on his leg. But enough of my issues, here is Chapter Eight.

High off of love, drunk from my hate
it's like I'm huffing paint, I loved it the more I suffer
I suffocate, & right before I'm about to drown she resuscitates me
she fucking hates me, and I love it
- Love the way you lie, Eminem feat. Rhianna

.

When Jenna Kaye returned to work she found the office humming with activity. Steve was in his office on the phone with his eyebrows drawn together in a furious expression. Danny was in there with his with a look of exasperation on his face, occasionally speaking to Steve who seemed to be stoically ignoring him. Chin and Kono were pouring over the smart table with tension radiating from the line of their shoulders and they both seemed determined to keep their eyes away from the boss's office. She walked further into the room, to see a picture of a relatively handsome man with a broad face on the screen, next the mug-shot of Victor Hesse. She frowned. What the hell was going on here?

"Did we get another case that I haven't heard about?" she asked to announce her presence.

"Jenna," Kono said as she and Chin looked up at her from the other side of smart table.

"You're not supposed to be back at work until tomorrow," Chin commented of her presence. Jenna moved towards them dropping her bag on the floor by the table as she looked up at the two pictures of the big screen.

"I thought I'd drop in and see what was going on," she told them. "What is going on?"

Kono and Chin glanced at each other, wondering exactly how to explain the events of the last week and a bit to her. Jenna studied the faces before her. She had heard about Victor Hesse numerous times and seen his photo. She wondered exactly why Steve's father's killer was now on the screen staring back at her with the black eye and bust lip Steve had given him when he had been arrested. She didn't know the other man. He was probably in his early forties with dark brown hair and eyes to match. He had an air of sophistication around him given off by the suit he was wearing in the photograph. What the hell did he have to do with Victor Hesse?

"Victor Hesse escaped."

It wasn't Chin or Kono who answered her question and Jenna swung round to see that Steve and Danny had now left the office obviously having heard her last question. Steve was tense, his jaw set in a hard line as he looked beyond her at the mug-shot of Victor Hesse on the screen. Beside him Danny looked a little red in the face, probably from shouting, and he was keeping his gaze firmly planted on his partner, like he suspected him of being about to do something stupid.

Jenna took a few moments to absorb this information, shock set in almost immediately before her brain started racing with reasons, connections and outcomes of the whole thing. She didn't understand how the hell Victor Hesse could have escaped from prison.

"What is his connection to this man?" she asked waving a hand to indicate the photograph of the other man on the screen.

"That is the man who engineered his escape," Steve replied with an undercurrent of anger in his tone, "Richard Arlington. He's our chief suspect in the assassinations of the two scientists. He's a British weapons manufacturer suspected of dealing arms to terrorists, and he's currently on the island."

Jenna glanced round at her team mates wondering how on earth their murder investigation managed to suddenly explode into Victor Hesse escaping from jail.

"What is Arlington's connection to Victor Hesse?" she asked looking back at the two photos on the big screen.

"I need you to look for that actually," Steve told her. "We think that Victor met with Arlington in Paris three years ago in July. Could you speak to your contacts at the C.I.A and see if they know anything about it?"

The confusion on Jenna's face was plain for all and sundry to see. The others just waited patiently for her to ask for an explanation and they could slowly see the way her face went through the motions of thought. It would have been easier if she hadn't been in Virginia visiting her parents because then there would be no need to fill her in on the recent alarming events that had taken place.

"So how do you know that Arlington helped Hesse escape if you don't even know if there is a connection between them?" she asked looking back round at Steve.

"Chin fill her in," Steve practically demanded. "Kono, have you got that file on Malika Pereira?"

"Here it is, boss," Kono responded immediately passing a thick, manila folder to him. Steve took it from her without a word, turned on his heel and marched back into his office. After throwing Jenna a quick sympathetic glance Danny followed him his face set in determination. Jenna turned back to look at Chin and Kono as the door closed behind the two partners.

"What the hell has happened?"

.

"Don't be stupid," Danny shouted angrily. "You can't just go barging in there with no explanation as to why. Arlington isn't even under surveillance by our own Government and you could blow Axel's cover by just barging in there. You need to have a reason to question someone in connection with any crime. You can't just accuse a prominent business man, even if he is suspected of being an arms dealer to terrorists, of harbouring a fugitive that just broke out of prison."

Steve ignored him and Danny threw his hands up in the air in exasperation unaware that Steve was watching out of the corner of his eye. He knew that what his partner was saying made sense but he didn't want to listen to reason right now. He felt a primal need to hunt down Victor Hesse, kill him along with anyone harbouring him and then fuck Axel hard to hear her call out his name, although any woman would satisfy the need, even if he would rather it was her. He didn't want to admit this to Danny, however, even if he would understand. Those baser animal instincts that he felt didn't need to be shared with anyone.

"I don't know if you've noticed, Super SEAL," Danny tried a different tactic leaning on Steve's desk to look him straight in the eye, "but we no longer have the same "immunity and means" that Governor Jameson gave us. The new Governor prefers us to do things as by the book as possible and to not go off the rails. How exactly are you going to explain to the Governor where we got our information from when you can't tell him about Axel being on the island?"

"I don't know, Danny," Steve expostulated eventually. "I can't just sit here and do nothing when I know that Victor Hesse is currently sitting in Arlington's mansion as smug as hell and ..."

He broke off in exasperation, slamming his fist into his desk. Danny leaned back, folding his arms across his chest to survey his partner with a critical eye.

"And within ten feet of Axel maybe," he finished for him. "Look Axel hasn't seen him. He hasn't been caught by any of her cameras and Arlington hasn't mentioned him to her so we don't know for certain that he's even there. Now I'm not suggesting that we do nothing. We investigate, of course, but we can't just go barging into Arlington's mansion demanding him to give up the whereabouts of Victor Hesse. Let Jenna find the connection between them and then we can maybe go in but first we have to have probable cause."

Steve sighed. He didn't want to sit idle. As an act now ask questions later type of person he really hated waiting around especially when his gut was telling him he was right. He knew Victor was at Arlington's mansion as sure as he knew what type of shoe Victor preferred but Danny was right. They didn't have any proof, not even a connection between them.

"Well, Jenna had better be quick," he mumbled, "or else I'll be saying screw the Governor. He won't complain if I find Victor Hesse in there."

Danny rolled his eyes but thanked God for small mercies. At least, he was now actually listening to reason.

Steve looked out of his office into the main area where a photo of a Hispanic woman who he could only assume was Malika Pereira had now been put up on the screen. Next to her was a photo of a good looking Hispanic man who had to be her right hand Juan Da Cova. In photo he was wearing a black tank top which showed off several tattoos on muscular arms and remembering what Victor had said to Axel when she had gone to visit him Steve didn't like the look of him one bit. He hoped that Arlington wouldn't try to sweeten his deal with Malika Pereira by getting Axel to sleep with him.

"Shall we go and see what they have?" Danny asked him indicating Chin and Kono with a nod of his head. Steve looked back at him the exasperation still plain on his face.

"Since I'm not allowed to do anything else," he said with an almost petulant look that reminded Danny of Grace and made him smile just a little.

"Come on then, princess," Danny said jerking his head toward the door.

Steve got to his feet and followed his partner out of the door. Chin and Kono looked up as they exited the office and Steve glanced around spotting Jenna in her office on the phone talking rapidly, eyebrows drawn together in an expression of concentration. He looked back at the screen as he came to a stop at the top of the smart table. He studied Malika Pereira. She was a beautiful woman with long dark brown hair. The photo was a snapshot taken at an airport of some kind somewhere sunny. She was wearing big sunglasses. The photo of Juan Da Cova was obviously taken at the same time. He too was wearing sunglasses. The photos made them look startlingly alike. They had almost the same shade of dark brown hair.

"Is there any relation between them?" Steve asked causing Kono, Chin and Danny to all look at him in surprise. Kono then immediately turned her attention to the information on the smart table in front of her.

"Not as far as anyone is aware," Kono told him when she looked back up. "There is no mention of them being related. Malika's mother's name is recorded as Lauana Pereira but her father is unknown. There is no record of who Da Cova's parents are so there is nothing to say they are or aren't. Why? Do you think they look alike?"

Steve shrugged.

"It might just be me," he said, "but in those photographs they definitely share a resemblance. It's hard to tell with the sunglasses."

"No I think you're right," Danny backed him up after squinting at the pictures for a moment. "I think there is some kind of resemblance between them, at least, in these photographs. There's something about their mouths."

"Maybe it's just because they're both Portuguese," Chin suggested.

Steve and Danny gave him identical looks of disgust at his doubt in their abilities.

"I got it," Jenna's excited voice rang out as she burst out of her office waving a handful of papers. The other four turned towards her as she skidded to a halt next to the smart table brandishing the papers at Steve who took them from her. The seal of the C.I.A marked the top of the paper. He flicked through the pages finding photographs amongst the documentation all taken in Paris three years ago on July 26th and 27th.

"Excellent," he exclaimed.

"I talked to a couple of my contacts at the C.I.A," Jenna explained excitedly. "It took a few calls around to find the right person but finally one of my fiancé's team mates said he'd been there. So he faxed me over a copy of the files. He said that Victor Hesse met with Arlington over two days but no one took any interest in it because nothing further came of it and Arlington wasn't on anyone's watch list. So the files were stored away."

"And he just gave it to you?" asked Danny looking surprised.

"There is nothing to it," she told him. "It's not like they managed to listen in on what the conversations were about. All they have in the documentation is a background on Arlington, details on when and where they met and photographs of the two of them together."

"You didn't mention why we wanted this, did you?" Steve asked her glancing up briefly from the photographs.

"He didn't ask, I didn't tell."

"Good," Steve responded before he waved the papers in front of Danny's face. "Now we have probable cause."

With a triumphant look he stalked off to his office to grab his badge. Danny looked around the other three.

"Does anyone else think he looks ridiculously happy about that prospect?"

.

Much sooner than Danny had wanted they arrived outside the gates of Arlington's mansion beside the guardhouse waiting for the guard to be satisfied with their ID and allow them access to the driveway and house. He nodded them through after what seemed like a thorough investigation of their badges and in the rear view mirror Steve could see him making a phone call, probably to warn Arlington to their arrival. They were never going to be able to catch Victor in Arlington's house if he was constantly going to be forewarned.

The driveway was a long one and as the house came into sight Steve nearly whistled but managed to control himself. The house looked so much bigger and so much more opulent than it had look in the darkness of the other night. He pulled up at the foot of the steps that lead between two marble columns to the stained double wooden front door. He turned off the engine and immediately got out of car. Danny copied his movements bringing with him the photographs that Jenna's contact at the C.I.A had supplied them with.

Steve jogged up the steps with Danny right at his heels. As he reached the top step the door opened and a big man with blond hair wearing a suit came into view. He reminded Steve of Chin and Kono's cousin Sid in his build and he could tell from his movements that he was carrying a weapon concealed under his right arm.

"Five-0," Steve informed him as he moved towards the bodyguard.

"You're expected Detectives."

He had a strong English accent. He inclined his head to Steve and Danny as though in greeting and ushered them through the doorway into the entrance hall of the house. Steve had managed to just get his bearings and he knew roughly the layout of the mansion. It was built in a sort of hollow square. The garden where Axel and Arlington had had dinner was in the middle. The house was over two floors with the rooms all along the inside of the square and the outer side was lined with floor length glass windows between whitewashed pillars. The windows looked out onto the veranda and garden with a balcony on the upper level looking out over them.

Steve and Danny followed the bodyguard down the corridor to the right, the heels of Danny's shoes clicking off the grey stone floor. They turned at the end of the corridor and went half way up before the Englishman stopped and turned, gesturing towards an open door. Steve nodded at him as he turned right into the room and then tried his hardest to make sure his face was completely blank.

The room they were in was the same office that Axel had yanked Steve into the night he had decided to come in. Behind the desk Arlington was sitting looking expectantly at him, his hands clasped in front of him. Standing next to him, looking every inch of stunning, was Axel dressed in a simple green maxi dress, her long black hair curled over one shoulder looking slightly damp.

"Ah Detectives," Arlington greeted them in a jovial manner rising from his chair as Steve and Danny strode further into the room. "I believe you've met my girlfriend, Sophia Lauder. Sophia, you remember Detective Williams and Commander McGarrett."

"Sure I do," Axel replied smiling brightly at them. "Nice tae see ye again Commander, Detective."

"Miss Lauder," Danny greeted her with a nod of his head.

Steve looked at her briefly but then turned their attention back to Arlington who was now resuming his seat.

"I understand that you two were hassling Sophia the other week," Arlington began conversationally, "and now here you are again. I have told you already that I don't know anything about these two nuclear scientists and I have nothing further to add to that statement. Now, if ..."

"We're not here about that," Steve interrupted him rudely. "We're here about Victor Hesse."

Arlington's face changed smoothly into surprise and out of the corner of his eye Steve noticed Axel's eyebrow flick up.

"Victor Hesse," Arlington repeated slowly. "Isn't that the man escaped from prison yesterday?"

"Yes it is," Danny backed Steve up, "and we have reason to believe that as an associate of Hesse you might be harbouring him."

Now his expression was one of shock. Steve managed to not flick his glance over to where Axel was standing. He didn't want to see her expression knowing it would probably be very neutral, not showing any hint of emotion at all.

"Well, that is an outrageous accusation," Arlington said eventually in a very calm manner, "but I'm afraid wholly unfounded, I do not know the man."

"Oh, you don't," said Danny in mock relief. "We've obviously just wasted both our time and yours then. He said he doesn't know him, Steve. We can certainly take that at face value."

Danny turned and started towards the door. Steve didn't move. He understood that Danny had a need for dramatics and theatricality so he just let him get on with it. On the other side of the coin Steve would have preferred to just beat confession out of Arlington. The man might be a genius at covering up his tracks but when it came to hand to hand combat Steve was positive that he'd flake and there was nothing he thought he would enjoy more than pushing Arlington to that edge.

"Oh, I completely forgot," Danny said stopping halfway back to the door. He turned on his heel and practically marched back to the desk. Steve could see the amusement on Axel's face over Danny's antics but Arlington looked unsettled by his behaviour. Danny slammed down the photographs on the desk in front of Arlington. Steve noticed to his twisted pleasure that Arlington had jumped slightly in his chair at the noise the photos had caused.

"I say you're lying," Danny stated with a flourish.

"What is this?" Arlington asked gesturing to the photographs but not actually looking at them. Steve didn't know why he had expected Axel to look more interested in the evidence she had asked him to dig up because when he glanced up at her she looked completely unmoved.

"This is what we call probable cause," Steve told him flashing a quick smirk at Danny, "photographs of you with Victor Hesse. Would you like to explain to us how you can claim to not know a man who you spent two days in meetings with?"

Steve had to give Arlington credit because his stoic attitude did not waver as he leaned forward to pick up the photos. He flicked through them leisurely as though he was merely looking at some holidays pics. Axel looked over his shoulders at them but nothing changed in her expression, not that Steve had expected it to.

"Yes, I met with this man," Arlington admitted readily tossing the photographs back onto the desk, shocking Steve and Danny. "It was in Paris maybe two or three years ago. It was the summer but he told me that his name was Michael Lynch."

Steve could have sworn violently at that moment but felt lucky enough that he was able to keep control of himself. Beside him Danny had folded his arms across his chest with a look of disbelief on his face almost like a bouncer denying someone entry to a club. Over Arlington's shoulder Steve met Axel's eyes briefly and for once he could read loud and clear what she was thinking: did you really think he'd give in that easy?

"Hesse's mug-shot has been all over the news," Steve stated heatedly, "and he hasn't changed much in the three years so why did you deny knowing him when you could clearly tell that he was the same man?"

"Commander, please," Arlington said with an arrogant smile that made Steve tick, "I am an extremely busy man. I don't get time to read the papers or watch the news. Here I am supposed to be on holiday with my darling Sophia who has been nothing but dreadfully neglected by me, haven't you sweetheart?"

Arlington grabbed the hand Axel had resting on the back of his chair and kissed it, smiling up at her in quite a convincing show of affection. Axel's answering smile was even more so, full of sweetness and pleasure that it made Steve feel physically sick to see it. Sometimes he hated that she was such a good actress because he would have really loved to see her recoil in disgust even just once from the men that she had to charm into her bed.

"Darling, ye ken I can take care of myself," Axel told him, "and it's no like there isn't plenty tae do on the island. Trust me when I say I'm used tae ye working all the time. A man's work is never done, right detectives?"

She smiled brightly at Steve and Danny with a display of excellent teeth, making her seem as though she totally lacked understanding of the situation. She sounded as though she could be some sort of Stepford wife with that particular cliché. Steve nearly snorted at the thought of Axel spending all day at home baking, looking after children, cleaning the house and putting dinner on the table for when a husband returned home from work. There were four words that sprang to mind along with that image: never going to happen.

"What did you talk about?" Steve asked Arlington taking his mind away from the ludicrous images in his head.

"When?" Arlington responded in a clear attempt to infuriate them, not taking his gaze from Axel and although according to him Steve was the irate one it was Danny that reacted.

"Oh, when you and Miss Lauder went to the opera the other night," he replied with sarcasm dropping from every syllable and his hands gesticulating wildly. "You know exactly when, so don't act like a fool. What did you and Hesse talk about at your two day meeting?"

Arlington turned his attention back to them then, dropping Axel's hand.

"Oh," the Englishman feigned surprise at Danny's tone, "well, you only had to ask detective. Mr Lynch was interested in becoming an investor with my company so whilst I was in Paris I organised a meeting with him to discuss investor opportunities and the future of the company, what his returns would be, that sort of thing. He seemed very keen to get involved and I came away from our meetings thinking I had a new investor. I am now aware of why he didn't choose to invest in my company and I'll admit that I am relieved he didn't since he is a terrorist."

Arlington looked between Steve and Danny with a sympathetic expression on his face that Steve didn't understand. He wanted to search the house but he didn't think Arlington was going to just allow them to stroll through his mansion and anyway, like Danny had pointed out, if Victor did show his face Axel's cameras would catch him.

"I am sorry that is not the answer you were looking for," Arlington said with a certain smugness in his tone, "but I am nothing but a simple businessman who you seem to enjoy harassing. I have no knowledge of the murders or this fugitive Mr Hesse and I am certainly not harbouring him."

Arlington's expression was not far off the look of a school teacher who was telling off a student for misbehaving for the hundredth time. It made Steve want to reach over the desk and punch him in his lying mouth. A move that would not go down well with Governor Denning one little bit.

"If that is all gentlemen," Arlington continued rising from his chair, "I have a business meeting to get to and I cannot afford to lose any more time."

His dismissal was clear and there was nothing either Steve or Danny could do. Arlington had given a justifiable reason for his meeting with Victor and it wasn't as though they had any more evidence to link him to Hesse other than the photographs. Steve's gaze flickered to Axel to see the ghost of the smile play on her lips before he looked back at Arlington. He could be as smug as he wanted for the moment because little did he know that he was about to be brought down by the woman standing next to him.

"Thank you for your time, Mr Arlington," Steve forced his voice into a tone of politeness. "We're sorry to have disturbed you. Danny."

Danny gathered the photos off the desk and then followed Steve to the door.

"Detectives," Arlington called out to them as they reached the door, "maybe you should focus on apprehending this fugitive instead of harassing innocent visitors to your fair state."

Steve glared at him.

"Mr Arlington," he responded in icy tones, "I would suggest that you think about flying out your lawyer."

With that parting comment the two men left the room. The blond bodyguard was waiting for them in the corridor his hands clasped in front of him. He nodded to them and then led them down the hallway to the front door. Back out in the sunshine Steve and Danny got into the car in silence and Steve pulled away down the drive. It was a few minutes before either of them spoke.

"With that last shot you'll be lucky if he doesn't report you to the Governor," Danny said.

"He can report it to the Governor all he wants," Steve replied a lot calmer than he felt, "he's suspected of involvement in two murders and he's got a connection to Victor Hesse. No matter what he says we know for a fact that he's lying. He sent his bloody girlfriend to visit Victor in prison. The Governor can't dispute that there is definitely something there."

"Steve," Danny responded with exaggerated patience that was unusual for him, "we have circumstantial evidence at best. Everything to do with this case is wrapped up in Axel, who you can't tell the Governor about so from Governor Denning's point of view we've got absolutely nothing concrete."

Steve knew Danny was right but that didn't make him any less irritated with the whole situation. Axel was an MI6 and on American soil that was a bad occupation to be especially since she was here without prior knowledge of the American Government. It wasn't like they would care whether she was undercover or whether the person she was investigating was actually a British citizen. They would automatically see her as a threat.

"You and I," Danny continued, "along with Axel are going to bring this guy down. We're going to find Victor Hesse and put him back behind bars. If we're lucky we'll also bring down Malika Pereira, John Da Cova and even Wo Fat. Since we've had no leads to go with Wo Fat I think that this is the best opportunity we're going to get for him to resurface. Don't you think we should take that chance?"

Steve gripped the wheel tighter for a moment at the thought of finally being able to bring down Wo Fat.

"We just need to sit tight."

Steve glanced at his partner and finally smiled.

"Okay, Danny, we'll sit tight," he said, "and then we'll bring the whole fucking lot of them down."

Well there it is my darlings. I hope you enjoyed it. I really wanted to show more of Arlington because we've not had a lot of interaction with him. I'm starting the next chapter right now and after tomorrow I'm off work for two weeks. Admittedly I'm going home to Scotland for a week of that but never fear I'm taking the laptop with me. So hopefully you'll get quicker updates. Can't wait to hear what you think.

Thank you all for the reviews so far. It really makes my day to check my email and realise there is another review for this story. So go on make me smile for a day.

Kerr x.

P.S. I've posted a one-shot about Steve's first meeting with Axel. It's called We must return to the scene of the crime, if you'd like to check it out.