Hawaii Five-O belongs to CBS. No copyright infringement is intended.
HIKE INTO DANGER!
"Got a minute, Steve?" the ever-exuberant Danny Williams greeted his boss. "I'd like you to meet my friend Rich Taylor. We were classmates at Berkeley. His dad was a medic in the war and he decided to follow in his footsteps and become a paramedic when we graduated. He was in Mountain Rescue for a couple of years before signing on with the Bakersfield Fire Department as an EMT. He's here for ten days' vacation. Thought I'd teach him how to surf." The young detective noticed McGarrett's expression and added: "In my spare time, that is. I do have some spare time, don't I, Steve?"
"I've been looking forward to meeting you, Mr. McGarrett," the brown-haired young man said with a smile. "Billy's told me so much about you and Five-O that I feel like I know you already!"
Steve raised an eyebrow as he shook hands with the young paramedic. "Call me Steve." He looked perplexed. "Billy?"
"We had three other "Danny's" in one of our classes. The profs always called us by our last names, so Billy just seemed natural!"
"I got used to it after a while," Dan added. "But it took me a couple of weeks to figure out who Rich was talking to." The three men laughed at the embarrassed look on Williams' face.
Hearing voices and the sound of laughter, Chin and Kono wandered into the big office, the ever hungry Hawaiian detective munching a donut, his second one that morning. "Gotta keep my strength up," he mumbled between bites as he caught McGarrett's slightly disapproving look. "Was out almost all night on a stake out and didn't have time for breakfast. And my Auntie was gonna make some of her pineapple-mango muffins today!"
"We gonna have to start calling you "Billy" too?" Chin winked at Danny.
"No-o-o," Williams shook his head. "Don't want to confuse the local criminals, do we?"
"So, Danno," Steve smiled. "Sounds as if you'd like a couple of days off to show Rich around?"
"And introduce me to some pretty, what-you call-'em, wahines?"
"Danny's the one to do that, Bruddah," Kono chimed in, to the laughter of his colleagues. Dan blushed. His social life was notorious – and he was considered a very eligible bachelor by a number of young ladies!
Steve gave in. "Danno, get your cases organized and take those days off. You deserve some personal time and we do need to show our company some real Hawaiian hospitality! I'll have Duke pitch in for you."
"Thanks, Steve!" Danny's delighted grin lit up the office.
"Actually, Steve," Rich broke in, "I'd like to do some backpacking while I'm here. I heard there's some good trails off the North Shore."
"You ever been, what's dis stuff, backpacking, Bruddah?" Kono sounded skeptical.
"A couple of times," Dan answered. "Rich and some of his buddies introduced me to it. My first trip was a week-long hike in the Sierras north of Yosemite. I never saw so many mosquitos in my life! Wondered what they ate when they couldn't get backpacker!"
"Those skeeters really liked Billy!" Rich snickered. "He's actually pretty good at packing. Of course, I taught him everything he knows!" He thought for a minute then added, "Why don't you come with us, Steve?"
"Why not? It's been quiet around here and Ben Kokua can always help out," McGarrett replied. "Maybe Kono could talk his Auntie into giving us some of her pineapple-mango muffins!"
o-o-o-o-o
Hawaii! The perfect place to spend Winter Break, so warm, so inviting, and so different from Northern California with its fog and chilly winds and rain blowing in from the Pacific And the girls! Just what a couple of college students needed to take their minds off the upcoming semester with its heavy class load.
The small, dark bar where they found themselves wasn't bad, either. The drinks were strong and cheap. The bartender was inclined to look the other way in the case of underage kids – of course, a lavish tip didn't hurt – and false ID's went a long way, too! Those ID's had better be good. The two students, Jared Morgan and Karl Kruger, had paid enough for them, with their parents' money, of course!
"We're gonna bag us a wild pig, just like in the old days!" Morgan bragged to a cluster of admiring buddies. "Heard there was some good hunting up in those hills around the North Shore."
"Yeah," Kruger added. "We're gonna do it the old fashioned way, with hunting bows and arrows."
"Couple of junior Robin Hoods," one of the other kids snickered.
"Nah, more like old Sitting Bull. Or maybe Geronimo," Kruger snarked.
"You'll be lucky not to shoot each other! Or someone else," another kid chipped in. "You guys got a hunting license?"
"Course," Morgan muttered. "We're not that dumb!" He conveniently skipped mentioning that he'd taken his father's deer license. The season was over and the local fuzz wouldn't know the difference. Those dumb Island cops wouldn't know a deer if it walked up and introduced itself!
"We're picking up the bows tomorrow, so we can get in some practice. Then it's off for a couple days. We'll bring back pictures and maybe even some tusks. Now, let's have some more booze! We're buying!"
The crowd cheered appreciatively. Money went a long way in buying friends. No one mentioned that hunting wild pigs was illegal in Hawaii. Not that anyone cared.
o-o-o-o-o
Danny parked the battered pickup at the trailhead. "Nice of Duke to lend us his old truck," the young cop remarked. "This is no place to leave an LTD!"
Steve and Rich laughed. "I wouldn't want to explain it to the governor if anything happened to a Five-O car," the lead detective said with a smile.
"Especially after you had to bail it out when you left it in that tow-away zone last month," Dan teased. He looked at his watch. "We've got about a three-four mile hike ahead of us, so we'd better get going so we'll have time to set up camp."
"And get in some fishing," Rich continued the thought. "Mmm, mmm, I can just taste those trout!"
"Sorry to disappoint you," Steve grinned. "There aren't any native trout in Hawaii. Might be some smallmouth bass, though. They were introduced in the 1950's. Our best fishing is off shore!"
"So's the best surfing," Danny added as the men shouldered their backpacks and started up the trail.
o-o-o-o-o
"Isn't this better than surfing?" McGarrett teased as he leaned against a tree and sipped some water from his canteen.
Danny glanced at the other man who had accompanied him and Steve on the hike and then took a drink from his own canteen. "Of course this is great, Steve, but I'm still planning on competing in that surfing event next weekend." The young cop loved surfing. "And teaching Rich to ride a wave," he finished.
Steve put the lid back on his canteen and returned it to his backpack, pulling the zipper closed over the top. "This gives us a chance to talk, which is difficult to do with you on a board. Besides, surfing is dangerous."
"Hiking can be dangerous, too," Danny countered as he clipped his canteen onto the Army surplus web belt he wore around his waist. "You can slip and break an ankle," he paused and added ruefully.
McGarrett asked their companion who was listening to the exchange: "What do you think, Rich? Is hiking too dangerous?"
Rich answered neutrally: "It can have its moments, but I would generally consider it fairly safe, although Billy did slip off a log bridge and fall into a creek on one of our trips in the Sierras. He wasn't hurt, but the look on his face was priceless."
"There you go," Steve announced with a hint of triumph. "The expert agrees with me."
Danny adjusted his backpack and took the lead on the uphill trail. Suddenly he stopped and crouched down. "Take a look at this." His companions joined him as his finger traced marks in the moist soil. "Wild pigs," he explained then he looked around. "They're all over the place. They do a lot of damage, and they can be dangerous, too."
"I don't think they can out-gun us," Steve reassured as he patted the revolver resting in the holster on his right hip.
"As much as they're illegally hunted, I wouldn't be surprised if they started shooting back one of these days," Danny replied as he stood up and turned back toward the path. The trio walked in silence, focusing on the trail as it got rougher and, in some cases, muddier.
"Almost there." Danny consulted his topographic map. "Just around the next couple of bends in the trail. The ground's kind of slick, so be careful."
"I can hear the stream ahead." Rich was as excited as a kid at Christmas. He loved backpacking and hiking new country was a favorite activity. "Wait 'til you guys see what I've got packed for dinner!"