The intercom buzzed, taking his mind off the view of Honolulu Harbor.
“Governor, it’s Sir George Masterson on the phone for you.”
Governor Richard Henricksen smiled. He recalled with great fondness how the head of MI6 and he had shed blood and many tears during the war.
“Sir George, aloha, to what do I owe the honor of this call?”
“Richard, aloha to you as well. I wish this were a social call, my old friend, but I have a matter of urgent importance that I need your assistance with.”
Governor Henriksen sat up in his chair. “Of course, George, anything I can help you with, you’ve got it.”
“Thanks so much, Richard, I appreciate that. This is the situation. One of our top agents has met with the most tragic turn of life circumstances. He’d just been married and was headed off for his honeymoon when an attempt was made on his life. His wife was in the car at the time and, unfortunately, she was killed.”
“Ah, I’m so sorry to hear that, Sir George. What is it that I can do?”
“Well, they were going to honeymoon in Honolulu. Although our man wanted to turn around and go after the people responsible for his wife’s murder, I convinced him to take a leave of absence. It was a hard sell, but he finally agreed, and he’s decided to spend some time in Hawai‘i. It seems a bit of a grim choice to me, but it is what he wants to do. I’m just happy I was able to get him to see that he needed some time to recover himself.”
“And you’d like me to take care of him while he’s here? I’d be happy to do that.”
“Well, that’s the tricky part, Richard. He knows that you and I worked closely with each other during the war, and he’s asked me specifically not to alert you about his coming. He says he does not want to be babysat, so I agreed I’d not contact you.”
Governor Henricksen laughed. “Which is exactly why you called me, right, Sir George? How would you like me to play this? I’ll do whatever you suggest.”
“What I’d like to see happen is this, Richard. I believe that the people who tried to kill him will still be after him. They may even go so far as to try to follow him to Hawai‘i. Without making it obvious, do you have some people who might keep an eye on him? He’s a crack agent, Richard, but he’s in a vulnerable state right now, and if his guard is down, and if these people are after him and do follow him there, I would kindly request that you do a bit of invisible babysitting, if you see what I mean.”
“I do indeed, Sir George, and I have my own crack team here. They would make formidable unobtrusive bodyguards. Please give me all the details, and I’ll fill my team in on what we’ll need to do.”
After taking all the information from General Masterson, Governor Henriksen called over to the Honolulu Police Department. His crack team, of course, were the four men who made up his Hawaii Five-0 task force. The point man, Kono Kalākaua, was responsible for spearheading any project the four took on.
“I understand, Governor,” said Kalākaua. “I’ll get the others together and bring them up to speed on this. Together I know we can work out a strategy to make sure the man is safe. Do we have a photo?”
“It’s being sent to me, Kono. I’ll get it to you ASAP. And Kono, no need to say that this takes top priority. Tell Del, David, and Chin that I want them to delegate their other cases until our man leaves town to head back to England.”
“Yes, sir, I’ll get on it right away.”
“I know it’s late, Kono, but do you think you can reach them tonight? I’d appreciate it.”
“I’ll give it my best shot, sir. The Captain’s still here, and think David’s over at the morgue right now. Chin Ho, I’m not sure, but I’ll do my best to round them all up tonight.”
And with that Sergeant Kono Kalākaua set the wheels in motion to turn Hawai‘i Five-0 into the state’s most elite unit of shadow bodyguards.
Lanning Lee 