Hawaii Five-0, Season 5

[Ron Mercer has been caught for shooting Steve Stegner, AKA Gordon Bristol. Five-0 asks why he killed him]

Ron Mercer:
Sometimes things happen that change a person's perspective on life.

Steve:
Well, that's that's some deep and soulful stuff for a man who's killed over a hundred people.

Mercer:
[laughs] Two years ago middle of a thunderstorm, I got into a head-on with a moving van with bad brakes. Doctors said I suffered a traumatic ventricular failure. That there was a 100% certainty I would die if I didn't get a new heart.

Steve:
Okay, how'd you get to the top of the list?

Mercer:
You gentlemen forget who I work for. Men like Albert Bagosa doesn't get wait-listed. I needed a new heart. He got me one. Not that he had any great affection for me. He just needed me to get back to work. I was told that my heart belonged to a very special young man. He taught at about the worst school in the city. Served meals at the local soup kitchen. Built houses for the homeless during his summer break. Then one day, this solid citizen, this man who lived to make a difference, got hit by a drunk driver while crossing the street. And it was the luckiest thing that ever happened to me. 'Cause I got a piece of him. After that, things changed. Went about my business the way I always done it, but when it came to the moment of truth, couldn't go through with it. Just couldn't pull the trigger. And it kept happening contract after contract. Something happened when I got that new heart. I began thinking of the people I was asked to kill. Their loved ones. Their families. What did they do to deserve me?

Steve:
Okay. Well, if your story's true, that can't have made Mr. Bagosa happy.

Mercer:
I never told Bagosa. Every contract I got, I pretended to fill it.

Chin Ho Kelly:
So, what about all the people you're supposed to kill? What happened to them?

Mercer:
I found a safe place to hide them.

Chin Ho:
You created your own witness protection program.

Mercer:
That's right. An entire community made up of people that didn't deserve to die - but somehow Bagosa found out.

Chin Ho Then how is it that you're still walking around?

Mercer:
I'm that good.

Steve:
That's why Bagosa sent Stegner to Hawaii, huh? To kill those people that you've been hiding?

Mercer:
Those people are innocent. I couldn't let Stegner end their lives. You think I'm lying?

Lou:
I think you just told a really great campfire story. The only things missing are the marshmallows.