The Sun Came Up Today

Epilogue to Three Dead Cows at Makapuu

(Note: This story incorporates two scenes from the film “Thirteen Days,” about the Cuban Missile Crisis.)

By Sylvia

Steve McGarrett stood up and caught sight of a breathtaking sky.

With his office on the southeastern corner of the Iolani Palace, Steve could sometimes catch a sunrise, if he worked all night or came in very early during the winter months. Of course, the Hawaii Five-O chief could not see a direct sunset from the lanai of the office, but he could see its effects. Right now, that included a sky filled with blues, oranges and pinks. He walked out to the lanai, took a deep breath and took the early evening view in.

“Spectacular,” he said to himself.

“Steve?” and “Boss?” he heard from inside.

“Out here, gentlemen,” he said, motioning to Five-O’s second-in-command, Danny Williams and Detective Kono Kalakaua. They joined him outside.

“What a beautiful sky,” Danny said.

“Man, that’s a sight,” Kono agreed.

“Where’s Chin?” Steve asked.

“He took Tilda to ballet practice,” Danny said. Detective Chin Ho Kelly often left in the late afternoons to take one of his eight children to some sort of appointment.

“Too bad he has to miss the view,” Kono said.

“Maybe not,” Danny said. “But it’s better not to see it on the road, anyway.” He shuddered at the thought of driving toward a setting sun.

“You guys gonna knock off soon?” Steve asked.

“I got a date with Tami,” Kono said. “New Tahitian restaurant.”

“Everyone else has a little black book,” Danny joked. “Kono has a menu catalog.”

Steve laughed.

“Hey, bruddah,” Kono teased. “What about that wahine you’re seeing?”

“Melanie and I are going to see ‘Butch Cassidy,’” Danny said.

“That movie again?” Steve asked.

“I like it,” Danny said. “And anyway, Melanie loves Paul Newman and Robert Redford.” He sighed.

Sunsets…dance class…restaurants…movies. How routine things seemed now, after the events of more than 24 hours ago, and the further events of this morning.

It had been just a day ago when Five-O, the Army and federal scientists had been in a race against time to stop a biological organism that had threatened all life on Oahu, and maybe beyond. The scientist who had created it, Alexander Kline, had secretly planted it in a desperate attempt to convey a message to the whole world about the dangers of biological warfare.

After the pleas of Wanda Russell, a Honolulu telephone operator who was in love with him, Kline told Steve where the tube he had planted was. But they and Danny got to the pier to find it gone. Chin would find out it had been picked up by a young surfer, nicknamed Kit, who often picked up odds and ends.

They would find the tube, and the Army would kill it and the residue by engulfing it and the surfer’s shack in flames – but at a high price. The surfer died from the organism’s effects, as did Kline.

Steve had spent this morning sorting through identities and bureaucracy. Somehow, Doctor Bergman, the veteran coroner who worked with Five-O, had been able to get fingerprints from the surfer last night. The young man’s body had deteriorated much like the three cows whose discovery by Danny and Kono had begun the chain of events.

“His full name is…was Kyle Thompson,” Chin had said this morning of the surfer. “College dropout from California. He moved here about six months ago, basically a beach bum, after a falling out with his father over money. His father’s in the hardware business. Mom is a housewife. Their only kid.”

Steve had called the surfer’s parents to tell them of his death. Patrick Thompson said he and his wife, Amelia, would be in Hawaii the next day to claim their son’s body.

But there was still some question as to a funeral for him, as well as for Kline. Jonathan Kaye had said there was a possibility cremations would be necessary in both cases, because of the circumstances.

There was also the matter of Wanda Russell. Kline had no surviving family; Wanda was the closest person to him. Steve was calling her in to meet with her the next day. He was also going to try to urge Kaye that if cremation was necessary for Kline, then Wanda was to be a part of a memorial process.

Those things had occupied his thoughts for most of the day.

“Steve,” Danny got his attention now. “You’re a thousand miles away.”

“Not that far, really, Danno….Just across Oahu, and across the last couple of days.”

“Yeah,” Danny agreed. “And two funerals to prepare.”

“That surfer was an innocent victim,” Kono said.

“In a way, Kline was, too,” Steve said. “Gets into a government lab to work on curing diseases, then they turn him around......” He sighed.

“But he finally did the right thing……He saved everyone else,” Danny said. Steve nodded and thought a moment.

“Do either of you know who Kenneth O’Donnell is?” Steve asked.

Kono shook his head.

“Wasn’t he an aide to President Kennedy?” Danny asked.

“And Senator Robert Kennedy,” Steve finished. “And a close friend of both of them. He’s running for governor of Massachusetts now. I had a chance to meet him a couple of months ago, when I was in Boston for that police chiefs’ convention.”

Kono and Danny waited for their boss to continue.

“O’Donnell’s married, with five kids,” Steve went on. “He was talking about the time at the end of the Cuban Missile Crisis. He drove Bobby Kennedy to meet Anatoly Dobrynyn, the Soviet ambassador to the United States. When O’Donnell got home, his wife was waiting for him.

“He told her, ‘if the sun comes up tomorrow, it will only be because of men of goodwill. That’s all that stands between us and the devil.’

“Then the next morning, after the Russians had accepted President Kennedy’s terms, and the O’Donnells were getting ready to go to Sunday church services, he told his family, ‘The sun came up today. Every day the sun comes up says something about us.’”

“I agree with him,” Danny said.

“Do you think Kline was a man of goodwill, Boss?” Kono asked.

Steve nodded. “Yeah, ultimately I do, Kono,” he said. “He went to extremes to prove it. And I think, ultimately, he had Kyle Thompson’s death on his conscience, and that’s why he sacrificed himself.”

“What about guys like Jonathan Kaye?” Danny asked.

Steve thought a moment. “Yes, but I have serious questions about their methods,” he said. “I don’t think any end justifies putting anyone in the public at risk. That’s where he and I see things differently.”

Danny and Kono watched their boss, deep in thought again.

“Steve,” Danny said. “Get out of here early tonight.”

“I think I just might do that, Danno.”

“Good night,” Kono said.

“Good night, Kono, Danno,” Steve responded.

As they walked out of their boss’ office, Kono said, “There’s another man of goodwill.”

“You bet,” Danny said.

Steve stretched and looked at the darkening sky once more. He walked into his office, shutting the lanai doors and clearing up his desk.

He knew what he was going to do. He was going to go home, have some dinner and paint the sky he had just seen. Because it wasn’t just the sunrise that reflected humanity. It was the sunset, as well.

PAU