This story is dedicated to the late Leonard Freeman, creator of one of my favorite television shows, Hawaii Five 0.
Author’s note- I’ve been toying with the idea of doing an AF Hawaii Five episode 0 for years. One season seven episode, A Woman’s Work is with a Gun, was best suited for making a few TG modifications to. The trouble was, I hadn’t seen the episode in years. That’s till I recently got a copy of it.
Since we’re talking 1970's television, the TG will be subdued. Kind of like my AF- The Missing Episode of The Fugitive story. Most of the story is not original but rather follows or copies the 1975 episode with a few modifications till the last quarter of the story. That I wrote, myself.
Enjoy.
Cast
Jack Lord- Steve McGarrett
James MacArthur- Danny ‘Danno’ Williams
Kam Fong- Chin Ho Kelly
Herman Wedemeyer- Edward ‘Duke’ Lukela
Harry Endo- Che Fong
Douglas Mossman- Frank Kemana
Rusty/Luana- Bruce Boxleitner and E Lynn Kimoto
Cal/Jade- Sam Melville and Josie Over
Marty/Heidi- Perry King and Elissa Dulce
and Special Guest Star
Hume Cronyn
Kimoto, Over, and Dulce were all Hawaiian based actresses who made multiple appearances on HF0. Melville(‘The Rookies’), Boxleitner(‘Scarecrow and Mrs. King’) and King all made at least two guest appearances on the show.
For any Hawaii Five 0 afficionados out there. Duke Lukela wasn’t a member of the Five 0 team at the time of this episode. He still wore the uniform of the Honolulu police.
Lou Chang was standing by his car, on a hot summer day. The customer Lou expected was finally there. Taking the cigarette out of his mouth, Lou dropped it to the ground. There he stomped it out with his left foot.
A white van that had seen better days was approaching. It was driven by a man Lou knew as Rusty Walker, a former Vietnam war vet.
Once the van was stopped, Rusty climbed out. He was pale looking, and looked unsteady. Rusty was dressed in olive army fatigues. He came right over to Lou.
"You don’t look so good man." Lou said to Rusty.
"Never mind how I look. Got something for me?" Rusty asked back.
"That’s my question." Lou was a drug dealer and Rusty was one of his regular customers. Right now Rusty was strung out and therefore desperate for a fix.
Rusty needed a bag. He also owed Lou money. He tried to plead with Lou, but the dealer wasn’t hearing him.
"Lou, I’ll get you the money. In a couple of days."
"Great, call me then." Lou then turned his back on Rusty and was about to walk back towards his car. Rusty grabbed the dealer by the arm.
Lou pushed Rusty away. "Let go of me man! Look, I’ll forget the two bills you already owe me but we’re through. Understand?"
"I’m begging you Lou...."
Lou wasn’t listening. He turned his back again on Rusty and walked back towards his car. It was just when Lou’s hand touched the driver’s side door, that Rusty pulled the gun he had out from underneath the shirt he was wearing.
Rusty fired twice, hitting Lou both times in the upper chest. The drug dealer fell to the ground instantly. As soon as Lou’s body hit the ground, Rusty hurried over and began feeling through the drug dealer’s pockets.
It took less than twenty seconds for Rusty to find two bags of heroin on Lou. As soon as he had them, Rusty ran back to the van. He then quickly drove off.
Rusty went straight back to his apartment. Once inside, Rusty shot herself up with the heroin he had taken off the body of Lou Chang.
At the offices of Hawaii Five 0 in Honolulu’s Iolani Palace, it was just another busy day for Danny Williams. His boss, Steve McGarrett, was enjoying a rare day off surfing.
Chin Ho and Duke Lukela came into Danny’s office.
"Did you hear the news?" Duke asked. Danny said no. "Lou Chang was found beside his car on Wymonela Beach. Two slugs in his chest."
"No kidding. I can’t think of someone more deserving." Danny replied back.
Chin Ho then spoke up. "HPD have any line on who dropped him?"
"With Lou Chang, its standing room only time." Duke answered back.
Once Rusty had injected himself and was back to normal, the off and on repair man left his apartment. He had work to do and money to earn.
After parking his van in one of Honolulu’s middle class neighborhoods, Rusty made his way to the Copeland house. The closest Rusty could park his van to the Copelands was a half a block away. Someone was having a party or gathering, and a lot more cars than normal were in the area.
On his way to the job, Rusty saw an object fall out of a bag being carried by a middle-aged woman. It was a necklace. Rusty picked the necklace up, his first impulse was to return being to give it back to its owner. Then Rusty had second thoughts. The necklace looked cheap, but who knows. Maybe it was worth something and therefore could help Rusty get his next fix.
Three days later, Rusty met up with two friends of his. Their names were Cal Williams and Marty Rice. Cal was a single Dad, his wife having run off two years earlier. This left Cal struggling, for his son Cal Jr. had leukemia and was currently hospitalized.
Marty was a working Joe. Married to his wife Louise but having no children at present. Nevertheless, the young couple struggled to make ends meet.
"Rusty, where have you been?" Cal asked. As the three guys met outside a bar on Hotel St.
"You won’t believe what I found."
"Lets go inside and have a beer." Cal said as he slapped Rusty on the back. "You can tell us all about it inside."
Once in the bar, the subject of conversation was what was going on in all three guys’ lives. They all had the same problem, a lack of cash. Rusty in order to get a fix but he didn’t tell that to his friends. Marty to make ends meet, and Cal so he could pay for his son’s mounting hospital bills.
"The hospital is asking me for a $1,000 or they’ll stop Cal’s treatments. Where am I supposed to come up with that sum of money?"
Marty proposed a couple of lame ideas. None of which was likely to raise one fifth of the money Cal Williams needed.
"Talk is getting us no where." Rusty said to his two male companions. "There is one way we can get the money we all need."
"How is that?" Cal asked.
"Steal it."
The three guys had a similar conversation about a month previously. Cal and Marty voiced their reservations back then. Nothing had changed in Marty’s mind since then.
"You can’t be serious?"
"Why not?" Rusty replied back.
If Marty still had reservations, Cal wasn’t so sure. He loved his son and wanted him to be well again. The father was feeling desperate enough right at the moment to contemplate breaking the law.
"We can’t do it. The police would...." Marty began saying.
"I have a way around that. Come back to my apartment with me. I’ll show you." Rusty told Cal and Marty.
Rusty’s apartment was a ten minute drive from the bar. As the guys arrived in the lot, three attractive Asian or Hawaiian women all around twenty years of age were just getting in a car. Marty and Cal couldn’t help looking at them.
"Those broads are bad news," Rusty said to Cal and Marty. "Lets go inside."
Once inside his apartment, Rusty told about his discovery of the other day. The necklace Rusty found three days earlier, could change a person’s appearance. Rusty had discovered this accidentally three days earlier. He becoming a fifteen-year-old Hawaiian boy for twelve hours. Rusty told this to his friends.
"You’re joking."
"No, I’m not. Want a demonstration?" Both Cal and Marty shrugged. "Wait right here. I’ll be out in about thirty minutes.
Cal and Marty did as told. Marty’s wife Louise had gone to visit her sister on the north shore and wasn’t expected home for two days. Cal had just an empty apartment to go back to.
Thirty minutes later, Rusty emerged from the room. He was now a chubby Hawaiian man in his late 30's or early 40's.
"Rusty?"
"Yes it’s me."
"How?"
Rusty held up the necklace. "This jewelry can change people."
Marty and Cal had a thousand questions and started shooting them off at Rusty. The drug addict fired right back with any answers he could provide.
"It works. I’m proof of it. Now here’s my or our plan...." Rusty began telling Cal and Marty the scheme he had concocted.
Marty, weak willed as always, was still wavering, "We’ll get caught."
"Never. Not as long as we’re careful and keep changing disguises."
"But....."
"Are you in or not?" Rusty asked back angrily. "Or are you both chicken? I’m not!"
Marty and Cal were still leery. Rusty tried a change of tactics, making a soft sell instead.
"We all need some help now. I’m a former junkie and admit it. No one will ever hire me for a proper job. Maybe this will let me get my life straightened out. If you guys don’t feel up to it, fine with me. You’re the smart ones I guess, but you’ll always be my friends."
Cal and Marty looked at each other. "Can we sleep on it for a night?"
"Sure. Come back here tomorrow. How about we meet at eleven?"
They quickly agreed on twelve o’clock. Marty would pick Cal up in the morning, and they would come over together.
The next morning, Steve McGarrett was back to work at the offices of Hawaii Five 0. He was having a meeting with Danny and Duke.
"How is the department doing on the Lou Chang case?" McGarrett asked Duke. Duke wasn’t a member of the Five 0 team, but rather the Honolulu police dept. Sgt. Lukela did a lot of liaison work between HPD and Five 0.
"No leads yet. Odd thing about it. We found half a kilo of heroin in a bag under the back seat of Chang’s car. If it was a contract job or a hit man, they would have given the car a tossing."
"Are you saying, it was an amateur? McGarrett asked Duke.
"Don’t know, but its beginning to smell like it."
Cal’s Saturday visit to the hospital wasn’t a good one. Because his immune system was weak, Cal Jr was sick and running a fever. The boy was mostly out of it while his father paid him a visit that day.
Then a hospital official named Hoffman asked to see Cal. Again the father was reminded about his son’s unpaid medical bills.
"At present your unpaid balance is over $1,400."
"I know."
"Your insurance has run out. The doctor has also advised me that Calvin needs further chemotherapy....."
Short story of what the hospital administrator was saying- Unless Cal came up with more money, his son wouldn’t get any more treatments. That almost certainly meant Calvin Williams Jr. would soon die.
By the time Cal got picked up by Marty and got to Rusty’s apartment, the father was desperate. He wanted to do anything to make his son well again, even if that meant breaking the law.
Marty hadn’t too good a morning himself. A charge card bill had arrived in the previous day’s mail. His wife had spent nearly $200 in the previous month. Where was Marty supposed to come up with that kind of money?
On arrival at Rusty’s apartment, Marty and Cal found their friend hadn’t changed. "Have you made a decision?"
Cal and Marty had talked it over during the car ride over. "We’re in. What do we do now?"
"Let me show you." Rusty said getting up from his chair and waving for his friends to follow him into the nearby bedroom. On Rusty’s bed was a bag full of clothes.
"Where did you get these?" Marty asked.
‘Does it matter?’ Rusty felt like replying back, but he said nothing instead. "A St. Vincent De Paul drop off box. Now lets get going...."
An hour and a half later, Marty, Rusty and Cal were sitting in a car outside a Waikiki hotel. Ten yards away a tour bus was loading its passengers.
Rusty was still the same man he was as before, Cal and Marty were changed now too. Both were still white, but very different looking than their normal appearance.
"So where does this bus go?" Cal asked Rusty.
Rusty had already put some thought into his plan and had done some preliminary scouting. He showed the route on a map to Cal and Marty. "The best place to do the job is here, Sherwood Forest."
"Sounds good to me." Cal replied back. Marty was nervous again, having lost his earlier confidence.
Cal would drive the getaway car to Sherwood Forest. Marty and Rusty would be passengers on the bus. When they were through discussing today’s plan, Rusty handed Marty a gun.
"I don’t want it."
"Take it." Rusty said to Marty.
"Maybe we should...." Marty tried objecting again.
"It’s too late for maybes. Take the thing!" Rusty said angrily.
"Marty, it’s not even loaded." Cal told his friend. Finally a reluctant Marty took the handgun.
A few minutes later, Marty and Rusty got on the bus. Just a couple of male tourists seeing the sights of Hawaii.
The tour wasn’t forty minutes old, when Rusty made his move. He was seated directly behind the bus driver. Marty was further down the bus, approximately half way towards the back of the bus.
Pointing a handgun at the driver’s back, Rusty said. "Turn off at the next right."
Within moments the tourists on the bus knew there were two armed men on board. Fearing for their lives, the men and women remained calm.
Standing up, Rusty addressed those on board. "Do as I say and nobody will get hurt."
Once they were safely tucked away in Sherwood Forrest, a bag was taken out. "Put your cash and jewelry in the bag." Rusty told everyone on the bus. Marty did the collecting from the still frightened tourists.
While the passengers did as they were told, Cal waited in Marty’s car, a Green Comet. He was parked in the trees, maybe 100 feet away from the bus. Cal and the Comet were well out of sight from everyone on board the bus.
When they had gotten the loot they wanted, Marty and Rusty got off the bus. Pointing his gun at the driver again, Rusty said. "Now drive!"
Marty and Rusty ran off towards the trees as the bus pulled away. An elderly tourist in the back of the bus managed to snap some photos of the two men who had just robbed him and over twenty others.
As soon as Marty and Rusty were in the car, Cal drove them all off.
The news of the tour bus robbery didn’t take long to make its way to Hawaii Five 0. Danny was the one to answer the call. He then went straight to Steve McGarrett’s office.
"Got a wild one Steve."
"What do you mean?"
"A hold up by Wymonella. Two men knocked off a tour bus."
"What do we have so far?"
"HPD is working on the details right now."
Steve McGarrett hated all criminals, from Crime kingpins to petty thieves. The news of that day’s robbery made him angry and caused Steve to shake his fist. "Tourism is the bread and butter of these islands and tourists don’t come here to be ripped off Danno. Give HPD a hand and report back."
Duke was already on the case when Danny and Chin arrived at the hotel the tour started from.
"What do you got, Duke?" Danny asked
"You name it, I got it. I haven’t gotten the same description twice." Duke began telling Danny. Then Duke reached into his pocket and removed a film cartridge. "I can give you one thing. One guy claims he took six pictures as they ran from the scene. Don’t know how good it is."
"Give it to the lab," Danny told Duke as he handed back the film. "I’m going to take a look inside."
While Danny went inside the tour bus, Chin Ho was outside trying to interview some of the tourists. Their stories varied.
"It was a small gun." A blonde haired woman said.
"Small? That was the biggest gun I saw in my whole life."
Later, Danny asked for a progress report. Chin gave it. "So far I got ten different descriptions for the robbers."
"Try eliminating eight of them. I’m going back to the office." Danny replied back.
Before Steve left the office for the day, Danny gave his boss an update. "Best estimate of their take is $10,000 cash plus jewelry.
"Did the lab boys get anything?"
"Not even a smear."
"Continue working on it Danno. Keep me posted."
Across town, Marty, Cal and Rusty made a temporary split of the proceeds from their heist. Rusty would still have to pawn the jewelry. The next morning all three men were back to their normal selves.
The same morning, Steve got a call to see Che Fong down in his lab. Even on Sundays, the men of Hawaii Five 0 were busy fighting crime.
"What do you got, Che?"
The six photos taken by the tourist were developed and laid out on a table for Che to show to Steve. The head of Five 0 began looking at the photos.
"This is the best I can do. The guy(tourist with camera) was pretty shaky. His camera shutter was set for normal speed."
The photos were all blurred. "There’s no way we can do a make on these. Any way we can clear them up?"
Che said there was. A process developed by the space program, Called computer image enhancement.
"Get to work on it Che and keep me informed."
The Wednesday night after the robbery, Marty came over to Cal’s house. Marty wanted to call it quits, he still worried the police would see through the men’s disguises.
"I can’t do it again Cal. Please, don’t make me."
Before Cal Williams got to answer Marty, the sound of his front door bell could be heard. Cal went and answered it. Rusty Walker had come over.
He had brought the proceeds from the sale of the jewelry. "That’s two thousand for you, and two thousand for you." Rusty said as he put money into his friend’s hands.
Seeing the money, made Marty brave once again. He handed the cash to Cal. "You hold onto it, I can’t have Louise seeing this."
"So when do we go back to work?" Rusty asked. The tour bus holdups weren’t done yet.
The second robbery took place exactly a week after the first. Again, Rusty, Cal, and Marty disguised themselves with the help of the magic necklace.
Like the first holdup, Rusty sat behind the driver. Once the bus was stopped at the chosen location, Rusty stood up while still pointing his gun. "Everybody stay in their seats."
Like the first time, Marty collected the money and jewelry. The tourists being told to put their cash(but not traveler’s checks) and jewelry into the plastic sack Marty was holding.
One blonde haired and mustached man wearing a Hawaiian shirt decided to resist. He had a gold watch on his left wrist, and tried to hide it. Rusty saw all of this, and came walking down the bus towards the man.
"Put it in the sack."
The tourist looked at Rusty. He then dropped the watch on the floor.
"Cute, real cute." Rusty said pointing the gun at the tourist’s head. "Now pick it up."
Right then the bus driver decided to stand up. This rattled Rusty and he then began shooting out the windows on the bus.
Frank Kemana was the one to report the robbery via radio to Hawaii Five O. Steve McGarrett took the call.
"Two different men this time Steve, but the same MO."
"How much did they get?"
"Five thousand in cash. We’re still totaling the jewelry."
Like the first robbery, descriptions varied widely. No one on board took any photos the second time around.
"One of robbers thought they were in a shooting gallery. Fortunately, no one was hurt."
"Thanks and keep on it Frank." Steve said before putting the microphone done.
Chin Ho and Danny were both in the office with Steve McGarrett. They had all heard the same report that their boss had.
"Copy cats maybe?" Danny asked.
"Or all part of the same team perhaps?" Chin Ho added.
"We got a bigger problem. One of those men flipped out, for some unknown reason," McGarrett said as he clicked his fingers. It was the habit of Five O’s boss to do this when thinking out loud. "If it happens again, he may start blasting people rather than windows. Danny, Chin, get out there and give Frank a hand. We need to get this under control and fast."
"It was stupid." Cal said to Rusty, referring to the latter’s gun use in the last robbery. It was Sunday and all three guys were again back to their normal bodies.
"Why do we carry guns, if we aren’t going to use them." Rusty replied back.
"You didn’t have to use it."
"Maybe we should stop it." Marty said in a meek tone of voice.
"We all agreed, we’re in this till we get $15,000 each." Rusty said as he pointed a finger at Marty.
"Maybe this is about more than money." Cal said in an annoyed tone of voice. Bottom line- Cal still needed more money. The father had given a down payment to the hospital, but Mr. Hoffman would soon be asking for more.
"You think I’m still on junk, don’t you?"
"No Rusty, I didn’t say that."
While Rusty and Cal faced off, Marty got up from the kitchen chair he was seated in. "I don’t know about you two, but I’m going home."
Rusty took Marty by the arm before his friend could leave the apartment. "I’m sorry. It won’t happen again, I promise."
Marty hung his head. "Ok Rusty."
"I’ll call you Wednesday."
"Talk to you then." Marty then left the apartment.
"Are you still in?" Rusty asked Cal.
"Absolutely." Cal replied back. The father had little choice.
On Tuesday, Che had the results of the computer enhancement work done on the photos. Steve McGarrett came down to see what the lab technician had found.
McGarrett was impressed by the work Che did, but since the robberies involved multiple robbers all wearing sunglasses, the images in the enhanced photos weren’t much use for identification purposes. There was one thing that did catch McGarrett’s eye.
"What is this image right here?" Steve said pointing to one of the photos.
"Looks like a shadow, but it could be most anything." Che replied back.
"How far can you use that enhancement process?"
"There’s no guarantee, but I’ll do a version of that section of photo."
Satisfied with Che’s answer, McGarrett had one last thing to mention. "I hear your boys dug some slugs out of the bus."
"Yes, Dave is working on them right now."
"Keep on it Che and let me know." McGarrett then left the lab.
Rusty was already in the process of planning the third tour bus robbery. It would take place on the coming weekend. This would be risky, for the police could be extra alert on these days, but Rusty could do nothing about it. All three men had jobs to do during the week that they couldn’t get away from.
There was another problem. Rusty was out of disguises. The two robberies had used all the clothes he’d gotten out of the St. Vincent De Paul drop off. On Tuesday evening, Rusty checked the box again. There wasn’t any new clothing in the box. So what were the guys to do for the next robbery?
A solution supplied itself the very next night. The residents of an apartment two doors down from Rusty, were leaving like they were going away some place. A few innocent questions by Rusty discovered his neighbors making a trip to the big island for a week. That immediately solved the disguise issue so far as the next job went.
For the next day, Rusty was able to pick the lock of his neighbor’s door. The place was full of clothes and other articles the men would need for their next job.
Marty Rice ran into a small problem of his own. His wife Louise wanted him home that weekend, and wasn’t interested in visiting her sister like she had the two prior weekends. Marty was all but ready to call it quits, but Cal and Rusty insisted they needed him for one last job. So in the end, Marty told his wife that he needed time on Saturday to help some buddies, but said this was it. After some griping, Louise relented and said her husband could do what he wanted.
Back at the lab, Che got some results on the bullet slugs pulled from the bus. He immediately called McGarrett.
"What do you got Che?" McGarrett asked while driving his car.
"Are you sitting down?" Che asked. "The bullets we pulled from the bus matched those found in a recent murder case."
"Which one would that be?"
"Lou Chang"
When McGarrett got back to the office, Danny had some other info care of Che. "He identified the car as a 1964 Comet but Che couldn’t get the license plate numbers."
"Maybe we don’t need it. Check with Motor vehicles and get a list of everyone on the island who owns that make of car. Have copies made and hand them out to HPD"
"I’ll get on it." Danny replied back.
Were Marty and Cal ever in for a surprise, when they were told of their disguises for their next job.
"I can’t wear this...." Marty said in protest. "What if Louise....."
"We have no choice. So lets get a move on." Rusty replied
Cal wasn’t happy either about the disguise, but kept his feelings to himself. An hour and a half later, the girls left the apartment. Yes girls.
They were now doubles of the three Asian women the guys had seen in the parking lot a few weeks earlier. Their names were Jade Cheng, Luana Sode, and Heidi Nimura or Cal, Rusty and Marty respectively.
All three transformed men were wearing dresses and carrying female handbags. Having a purse had one advantage. It made it easy to hide the guns they needed for the next robbery.
"The police are looking for men, we’ll fool them this time." Rusty/Luana told her fellow conspirators.
"These shoes are killing me." Marty/Heidi said referring to the two-inch heels she was now wearing. She said this while getting in the Comet with Jade and Luana.
"Just concentrate on the job we’re doing and forget the shoes. If you don’t, we’ll all get nailed."
As they drove away in Rusty’s car, Jade couldn’t help think that she was nailed already. A look at her present set of fingers, told Jade just that.
Officer Ken Tanaka was only a year out of the academy. He was driving up Diamond Head Road when he saw a tour bus parked along the edge of the road. Ken immediately called into dispatch.
"175 to center," Officer Tanaka said into his radio. "I have a tour bus off to the side of Diamond Head road near the tunnel. A possible 211 in progress. Request immediate backup."
"10-4" The voice from center replied back. Officer Tanaka then pulled his police cruiser just to the left of where the bus was parked.
As he did, Rusty/Luana came off the bus. Seeing a police car at the scene, she fired one bullet that went through the patrol car’s windshield, missing Officer Tanaka. After this was accomplished, Rusty/Luana darted around the side of the bus.
By the time Heidi/Marty got off the bus, Officer Tanaka was out of his vehicle and holding a rifle. "Stay where you are. Drop the weapon."
Heidi/Marty turned in the direction of where Officer Tanaka’s voice was coming from but failed to drop the gun she was carrying. For that mistake, Heidi Nimura really Marty Rice, took one rifle shot through the heart. She died instantaneously.
Officer Tanaka then exchanged fire with Luana/Cal. Three of the Officer’s shots failed to hit his target, but Luana hit the officer in the neck with one of her own. Like Heidi, Tanaka died immediately.
Hearing the gunfire, Jade/Cal pulled up the Green Comet as close to the bus as possible. Leaping from her car, Jade ran to Heidi’s side.
"Leave her, she’s dead!" Luana said in a callous and sharp tone of voice. After pulling Jade to her feet, Luana pushed her co-conspirator into the Comet’s back seat.
There was one last thing to do before leaving the scene. Luana went back to Heidi’s body, and grabbed the bag she was still clutching. It was the one with the jewelry and cash in it. After that was done, Luana jumped into the Comet and drove off.
By the time McGarrett arrived at the crime scene, Danny and Duke were already there. An ambulance was just loading the body of Officer Tanaka.
"Who got it?"
"Ken Tanaka, he’s new on the force," Duke replied to McGarrett. "I knew Ken and his wife Myra pretty well. Maybe I should be the one to tell her."
"Yes Duke, maybe you should." Duke then left but Danny stayed behind with McGarrett. "The holdup was done by three women?"
"That’s what the witnesses say. One is on the way to the morgue." Danny Williams explained.
"Any id on her?"
"No, but we found an envelope in her purse. Addressed to a Heidi Kimura. Chin is checking the address right now."
"Three holdups, three different sets of robbers. This isn’t adding up." McGarrett said as began to pace slowly.
"The Nimura woman, or whoever she is, didn’t kill Officer Tanaka," Danny told Steve as he held up a gun in a clear plastic bag. "The gun we found on her was empty, and probably hadn’t been fired recently if ever."
McGarrett took the gun from Danny. It was a ordinary looking handgun. As Steve examined it, Chin Ho Kelly called his name.
"Motor vehicles has a Heidi Nimura listed at the address we found."
"Chin, go and check it out."
For some unknown reason, Luana drove to Cal’s home rather than the apartment of Rusty Walker. Maybe it would be safer at the single father’s home.
During the ride home, Jade was on the verge of hysteria. The holdup plan had gone badly wrong. Her friend Marty Rice was dead, and a officer was shot and maybe dead as a result of the crime Jade and Luana had committed. What was Jade to do next?
Cal Williams was stuck as Jade Cheng for at least another nine hours. The necklace didn’t work for at least twelve hours after every use. For the next nine hours, Jade would be very vulnerable and in serious danger of being arrested.
Luana was thinking along the same lines, but felt no grief over the death of either Officer Tanaka or Marty Rice. All she wanted to do was get out of the female body she now possessed and get as far removed from the crimes Luana/Rusty had committed as possible.
Once they were at Cal’s home. Both women went straight inside. As soon as the door was closed, Jade sunk herself onto a living room couch.
"What do we do now?"
Luana went straight to the kitchen. There was no alcohol in the place. Not a beer, no liquor, nothing.
"We have to tell Marty’s wife." Jade said in a trembling, frightened voice. "She has to know."
"You tell Marty’s wife, he’s a dead woman now. I’m going out!" Luana said as she grabbed a purse again but not before throwing some cash inside it. Luana had no plan at the moment except to probably get drunk in addition to getting away from the emotional/distraught Jade. The woman was driving Luana nuts.
"Where to?"
"None of your business! I’ll be back later."
Chin went to the apartment where Heidi Nimura lived. No one answered the door. The next stop was to seek out the landlord or anyone who knew the dead woman.
"Yes I know her," Said John Redding. John was the live-in maintenance person for the apartment house. "She’s away right now."
"Do you know where to?"
John shook his head. "I don’t know. She and her roommates left last Tuesday or Wednesday."
"Nimura has roommates?"
"Yes, two friends of hers. Their names are Luana something and Jade Cheng."
"Can I see their apartment?" John said Chin could. The detective then followed the maintenance man upstairs.
Heidi Nimura rented apartment number twenty-eight and it was unoccupied at the time. It was a very neat, and well decorated pad. A quick check of the apartment, showed it to be shared by three women like John Redding said.
On a table in the living room was a photo. "Are these your three tenants?"
John looked at the photo. "That’s them. Heidi is in the middle, Luana is on the left and Jade is on the right."
A few minutes later, Chin left the apartment. He took the photo with him.
Information began to come into Hawaii Five O’s office in a fast and furious style. First a ballistics report said the bullet that killed Officer Tanaka, came from the same gun used in the second tour bus robbery, plus the murder of Lou Chang.
Then Chin came in. "Steve, I showed this picture to eight of the tourists who were robbed today."
"What did they say?"
"The same thing, the woman in the center we identified as Heidi Nimura, and one on the right going by the name of Luana were the ones who did today’s robbery. The one on the left is named Jade Cheng.
"This doesn’t make sense. What’s the connection between the Chang killing, the second holdup and these women? The last two were done by totally different sets of people.
"Boyfriends perhaps?" Danny said out loud.
Chin shook his head. "If Nimura or her roommates had one, the landlord said he never saw them. He said all three were quiet and kept to themselves."
"Make copies of that photo and give it to HPD. Say they are wanted, suspicion of murder."
As Chin left the office, Frank Kemana came in. "Steve, motor vehicles has over 200 Green Comets registered."
A check of the list showed none to be owned by a Heidi Nimura, Jade Cheng or Luana Sode. There was a Comet registered in the name of Louise Rice however.
"Frank, check out all the Comets that are listed as owned by a woman. It’s a longshot, but we don’t have much else."
"Right Steve." Frank then left, leaving only Danny and McGarrett in the office.
"Danno, I want that Nimuara woman’s apartment staked out. Get help from HPD. Tell them, to report in if anyone goes inside but not to make a move before checking with us first."
Luana went to one of her favorite Honolulu bars, located down by the waterfront. There she got thoroughly drunk.
While she was doing this, two things happened. First Luana got hit on by a parade of men. She told all of them to get lost. Can’t a woman get plastered without being bothered?
The other thing that happened, were a series of decisions getting made by Luana. The first of which, was she’d have to ditch the female body of hers as soon as the time limit needed to change back was up. No question, police would sooner or later get a description of Luana Sode. In the meantime, Luana/Rusty would wear dark glasses as much as possible.
(It never occurred to Luana that she was vulnerable at the bar. Luana’s need for some alcohol, overriding her fear of arrest.)
That was the easy decision. The others took more time. First who would Luana become next? Becoming Rusty again, had obvious drawbacks. Not the least of which was the cocaine addiction the man suffered from, not to mention his involvement with the murder of Lou Chang. So far as Rusty knew, police hadn’t linked him to the murder. That didn’t mean Rusty wasn’t under suspicion.
A better option was for Luana to become Cal Williams instead. Then flee to the mainland, leaving Hawaii for good. Cal would be male again, with a new identity and in all probability safe from the law.
There was only one flaw in this plan. What would Luana do about the real Cal?
The fifth female owner of a Green Comet that Frank got to interview, was Louise Rice. She was at her Honolulu apartment when Detective Kemana paid her a visit.
"Yes I own a Comet."
"Where is it right now?"
"My husband has it. Why are you looking for it or Marty?"
"We’re just conducting an investigation Ma’am. Where is your husband at this time?"
"At a friend’s place. Marty will be back tomorrow."
Frank showed the photos from the first robbery to Louise and asked if she recognized anyone. Louise Rice said she didn’t.
By the time Luana left the bar, she was thoroughly drunk. That didn’t stop her from driving back to Rusty Walker’s apartment.
Luana had come to a decision in regards to Cal and it was pretty simple. She would first grab a few of Rusty’s belongings and then go to Cal Williams home. At the house, she’d use the medallion to become Cal but not before first killing the real Cal Williams Sr.
This had to be done in the warped thinking of Luana. Cal was too much of a loose end. His emotions and guilt over Marty Rice’s death may result in them both being arrested.
When Luana arrived at the apartment house, she went straight upstairs. Unbeknownst to her, Duke Lukela was watching downstairs.
"Dispatch, patch me through to McGarrett."
It was almost 11 p.m. but Steve was in his office. "Yes Duke, what do you have?"
"The woman we identified as Luana Sode. Well she’s back at the apartment house."
"Good Duke keep her under surveillance."
"One thing Steve, she didn’t go in the apartment she shares with the Nimura woman."
"Which apartment did she go in?"
"Number twenty-four."
Danny was in the office along with Steve. "Keep her under surveillance Duke. Danno and I will be right over."
Back at the house owned by Cal Williams Jr., Jade was waiting out the twelve hours necessary before switching back to her own body. Before that could happen, Rusty would have to show up. So Jade picked up the phone and called the number she had for Rusty’s apartment. Luana picked it up on the third ring.
"Hello."
"Where have you been? I been waiting for you all day."
"Places."
"We need to use that necklace again."
Luana thought for a few seconds. Murdering Jade in the apartment of Rusty Walker made good sense. The police would then be on the lookout for Richard Lawrence Walker, not Cal Williams. "Come to my place. Don’t forget the bag with the money and jewelry."
It took Jade ten minutes to drive her car over to Rusty’s apartment. Jade went straight upstairs to apartment twenty-four.
All of this was watched closely by Steve McGarret, Danny, Chin Ho and Duke. "That’s the Cheng woman." Danny said.
"Time to go. Duke, Chin, go around the back. Danno and I will go in the front," Steve said after checking his watch. "We’ll move in five minutes."
"Good you brought the bag." Luana said to Jade.
"Are we going to split the jewelry and cash now?" Jade asked. While still feeling bad about Marty, she also needed her cut of the money. Cal had promised Mr. Hoffman a payment on Monday for his son’s latest treatments.
"First things first. You have the necklace?"
"No, I thought you have it."
"I don’t have it! You have it!
"You see it on me?" Jade said with her arms outstretched.
"Where is it then??"
Both Jade and Luana began to panic. They started ransacking the apartment in a desperate search for the necklace. If they didn’t find it, Rusty Walker and Cal Williams would be stuck as women for the rest of their lives.
Jade and Luana were about to move a couch, in order to look under it, when Steve and Danno kicked the apartment door in. Seeing the cops were there, Luana dove for her purse which still had a gun inside it.
"Freeze or I’ll shoot."
Luana saw the muzzle of McGarrett’s gun pointing directly at her. She was still a good two feet from the purse.
"Get on your feet, and put your hands above your head." McGarrett said to his suspect. Jade was already standing with her hands against the wall. The woman was crying and asking for a chance to explain herself.
McGarrett nor Danny were not listening. Both women were searched, and then handcuffed.
"We’re not women!" Jade kept saying insistently.
"Book them Danno, Murder One." McGarrett said to his second in command. By then Chin and Duke were also in the room too. Duke helped Danny take Jade and Luana out of the apartment.
"Three down boss." Chin said.
"Six more to go."
"Where do you think the others are?"
"Don’t know Chin, but I won’t stop looking till we find every single one of them."
Less than six months after their arrest, Luana Sode and Jade Cheng were found guilty of armed robbery and murder one. Both women were given the maximum sentence, twenty years to life.
On every possible occasion during the days leading up to their trial, Jade and Luana claimed to be really men. Telling anyone who would listen they were Rusty Walker and Cal Williams Sr. This was certainly odd behavior, but authorities dismissed the crazy claims. A psychiatric examination of Luana Sode showed the woman to be borderline psychotic. As for Jade Cheng, her claims were thought to be delusions, perhaps a result of her arrest and incarceration.
Because Marty Rice’s car was found at the apartment house, Five 0 suspected the three women stole the car from its owner in addition to probably murdering the man. Unfortunately there was no proof, and on advise of their attorneys, Luana and Jade said nothing.
In preparation for Luana and Jade’s trial, Prosecutor John Manicotte was astonished to find three women identical to those responsible for the third tour bus robbery. The real Luana, Jade, and Heidi, were all brought in for questioning but eventually released. Duplicate women just adding one more bizarre twist to the partially solved tour bus robberies.
McGarrett and Five 0's search for the other suspects in the robberies hit a dead end. One of those rare cases where Hawaii’s state police didn’t apprehend the crooks.
A week before his father was sentenced for the murder of Officer Tanaka, nine-year-old Cal Williams Jr. died of leukemia. Cal Jr. never seeing his father the last five months of his short life.
Having not seen Rusty Walker or getting the monthly rent that was due, the owners of the apartment house ordered John Redding to clear out apartment twenty-four. As soon as this was done, the apartment would be rented again.
While John emptied out apartment twenty-four, he found a piece of cheap looking jewelry. It was behind a dresser in the main bedroom. Thinking it may be worth something, John pocketed the necklace.
Later that day, a well dressed smiling man in his late fifties arrived at the apartment house. He was interested in renting an apartment.
"Yes we have one available. It’s number twenty-four. If you have time, I can show it to you now."
"Thank you, I would like that."
"What’s your name again?" John asked the stranger.
"Goro Shibata." Lewis Avery Filer replied.
John laughed. "You don’t look Japanese. Come with me Mr. Shibata." Steve McGarret’s old nemesis then went with John to see apartment twenty-four.
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