A.N. – Hawaii Five-O belongs to CBS. No copyright infringement is intended.

This is my first attempt at writing a POV story, partially in the present tense. The lines of dialog toward the end of the story are taken from the season 5 episode "Journey out of Limbo", so are not my own words. Thanks to "Tanith2011" for her help.

Unscrambling Limbo

A new day, thank God; I wouldn't want to repeat yesterday.

Yesterday…after Ben's frantic phone call at Jameson's office…well, I had trouble finding my next breath. All my detailed security plans for Lin Mai-Lu's impending visit instantly vanished and were replaced with frightening images of Danno's body dumped at a construction site. Ben didn't have to say much; my mind willingly filled in the gaps in vivid living color and it scared me plenty. Proper protocol be damned, I couldn't get out of that state house fast enough!

Then, seeing Danno with my own eyes when he was hauled out of the ambulance, unresponsive, I was barely holding it together. Doc's overly technical explanation of the damage didn't help. What did help was finally seeing Danno with his eyes open, conscious and speaking. The bad thing is that I tend to compartmentalize and oversimplify things. In my relief that Danno was safe, I moved him into the "okay" compartment and minimalized his memory loss. My cop brain checked Danno off the list and started working on those damned security plans again. How could I have done that? He was clearly frustrated, maybe even scared and I provoked him into a shouting match! No matter now, today's a new day.

The truth is locked away somewhere in Danno's mind. As detectives, we live to solve puzzles; gathering evidence, fitting pieces together until a complete picture emerges and we flesh out the truth. But I wasn't prepared for the evidence we would find today; for the pictures that evidence would paint inside my head.

We start our search at an abandoned bunker in the hills close to the riding academy where Ben found Danno's car. Danno is trying as hard as he can to make sense out of the disconnected, seemingly random images flashing in his head: a boat, a jeep, men with guns chasing him, shooting at him. It all seems so far-fetched, standing on this now quiet and sunny hill. He's recounting what he remembers honestly and I sense that he's embarrassed by how it all sounds. Chin and Ben are understandably skeptical. But I have to believe in Danno. He needs my support now.

As we walk through the field, the evidence is appearing piece by piece: hard, irrefutable evidence of Danno's incredible ordeal that took place on this spot just yesterday. And it's doing something strange to me, to my emotions, pulling me in opposite directions. The tire tracks, the hoof prints, the blood stained leaves, the bit of fabric torn from Danno's shirt: each new discovery verifies another piece of Danno's story and in turn sparks a sequence of events in my imagination, like a movie. The knot in my gut tightens a little more as I realize how very close it was…my God, I could have lost him yesterday! Then I glance over at my second and see that he's alive and safe. I relax.

Further along, there is more evidence: the grisly body of a roan mare in full tack, shot to death. Did the mare collapse with Danno on her back? Did he jump off before she went down? Was he thrown? The poor animal took four or five bullets. What a waste. Next, spent shell casings not far from the mare: "So they were still on your track," Ben says. "Yeah; and still shooting," I hear Chin add. One man, on foot, trying to outrun a jeep and dodge bullets…? I shudder at the thought and feel a chill work its way down my spine despite the baking sun. Again I look over at Danno just to make sure he's really here with us. He is, thank God. But how is that possible?

The trail leads us to the edge of a high cliff overlooking the ocean with the swiftly moving traffic on Kalaniana'ole Highway far below our feet. Danno was trapped; what now? I hold tight to Danno's hand so that I don't fall, leaning closer to the edge to get a better look.

"There's no place to go except back, bruddah," Chin observes. "They had you in a bag!"

"So how did you get out?" Ben asks.

Desperation can drive a man to do insane things. But I'm not prepared for the response.

"I jumped."

He jumped? Jumped? Did I hear that right?

"But that's concrete down there!" Chin exclaims incredulously. I had the same thought.

"There was a truck, Chin, a truck passing by," Danno explains.

So that's how he ended up in that truck. I look back down, way down, at the busy highway. Then I look back at Danno; this time my concern for my protégé is mingled with a sense of awe. Would I have had the guts to take that leap?

Pau