The music created rainbow colors that swirled and danced around her as she swayed in time with the beat that flowed through her soul, making her one with the music. She could feel his lips brush against hers, like the soft, gentle wings of a butterfly, as his hands softly caressed her shoulders. She moaned and closed her eyes in eager anticipation as she felt his hands slowly moved up to her neck.

Opening her eyes in confusion, she stared at him through the frightened glazed eyes, unable to scream, unable to even breathe, as the hands around her throat squeezed tighter and tighter. She tried desperately to pull his hands away, to kick, to struggle, to break free but he was just too strong. Her last memory as the darkness engulfed her was the constant bass beat that flowed through her soul, making her one with the music until even the music was gone.

Reaching for another folder, Kenny Mills looked up as he heard a soft rap on his office door a moment before it opened, and Steve McGarrett poked his head into his office and asked, "Got a couple of minutes, Kenny, for an old friend?"

Grinning as he pushed the folder away, the Vice Squad Lieutenant chuckled as he waved the other man in. "That depends Steve, on whether you remembered that you owe me…"

"A coffee and not from the pot that's been sitting all night," the Five-O lead detective smiled as he opened the door fully and entered the office, carrying two Styrofoam cups. Handing one of the cups to Mills as his smile grew as he sat down on the chair in front of the well-worn wooden desk and announced proudly, "Strong black, no sugar."

"Yeah," Mills nodded, accepting the mug, removing the plastic lid before taking a small sip. Sighing his appreciation of the strong flavored brew, he lowered the cup a little as he looked over the rim, suspiciously at his friend, "Okay Steve, I know that you haven't come all the way down here from the Palace to Vice just for a social visit, so come on, spill, what's up?"

Steve sighed, placing his cup of coffee on the desk, "You're right Kenny, this isn't a social visit, I need your help."

"My help?" Kenny frowned as he placed the coffee cup on the desk in front of him and leaned forward, giving the top cop on all the Hawaiian Islands his full attention. "Of course, Steve, what do you need?"

"I guess you have heard about the murders of several young women whose bodies have all been in or around the north shore of Kauai."

Kenny nodded, "The count is up to four or five so far, isn't it?"

"Six." Steve sighed softly, "All young women, aged between seventeen and twenty- eight, all had various hallucinogenic drugs in their systems, all were last known to be living on Tomlinson's hippie commune and all died from manual strangulation."

"Damn!" Mills murmured, looking down into his coffee cup, as the horror of what his friend was telling him sunk in before he looked back up at Steve.

"That's why I'm here. I need your help, Kenny, to catch this killer before he strikes again." Steve continued quietly.

"Of course, Steve, glad to help anyway we can." Kenny quickly reassured his friend before grabbing a pen to take some notes, "I'll get my guys on this straight away, I'll make it a top priority. Do you think all the girls may have been some of our local working gir-"

"Ahh, no, nothing we have found out about any of the girls have us believing they were working the streets in Honolulu or anywhere but that's not quite the help that I am hoping for, Kenny," Steve interrupted.

Pausing with the pen in mid-air, Kenny frowned, "I don't understand Steve, then what is it that you need?"

"We suspect the murderer is a member of the commune, but the commune members don't trust anyone from the so-called establishment."

"And we are part of the so-called establishment, I guess." Kenny murmured.

Steve nodded. "They're scared and are refusing to co-operate with the investigation. So, I'm hoping that we can use one of your guys to go in undercover. We need someone inside the commune to try and win the trust of some of the members and hopefully help get enough evidence to point us in the direction of a possible suspect. It will have to be someone young, someone who has worked undercover before, someone who will fit into the hippie lifestyle and who isn't well known on the streets yet…"

Kenny nodded in understanding as he held up his hand for Steve to stop as he said, "I think I might have just the guy you are looking for Steve, he's my newest and youngest detective, Danny Williams. He's just turned twenty-five and still a little wet behind the ears, one of these new police university degree kids who are joining the force. He's only been on the job a few months and I managed to snap him up when he joined HPD. He's a local boy, born and raised here, who returned to Hawaii after graduating from Berkeley and I'm glad I took the chance on him. He's bright, real bright and a hell of a quick learner and a fast thinker on his feet and he's just finished an undercover gig that led to the arrest of one of the city's major gambling ring kingpins." A small smile crept onto Kenny's face as he looked past Steve's shoulder and watched the shaggy haired young man, whom he was speaking about, enter the bull pen with his partner. Looking back at Steve, he grinned as he rose to his feet and hurried towards his office door as he added over his shoulder, "And I think when you see him, you will agree that he would fit right into any hippy commune. Let me just call him into the office and let you meet him, I think you will agree that he will be perfect for the role."

"Oh, come on, Danny, my boy, now would I lie to you? I swear there were two of them and both were fighting over little ol' me!"

Danny Williams laughed, slapping his partner's shoulder as they headed towards the bullpen, "Are you sure that they were fighting over you and not fighting over which one of them could get out of the door the fastest after you said that corny opening line?"

"It wasn't corny!" Matt Loomings protested as they entered the Vice bullpen and headed to their desk, "It's one of my most effective pick-up…"

"Williams! Loomings! So nice both of you have finally decided to join us!" Lieutenant Mills growled from his office door as he glared at his two detectives as they turned and looked guiltily at him.

"Sorry Lieutenant," Williams said quietly as he shrugged out of his jacket and glanced quickly at his partner who was grinning at their lieutenant like a Cheshire cat.

"Sorry we're late, Kenny, I know you said to be here by seven, but the kid here overslept this morning and I had to drag his sorry ass out of bed!" Loomings chuckled, tilting his head in the direction of his young partner as he reached up and ruffled his partner's hair, winking at his lieutenant as he teased, "I swear Lieutenant, these college kids who keep joining HPD are getting softer every day."

"And you two are getting later with handing in your paperwork every day." Mills admonished the older man, stifling the smile that twitched his lips as he saw Williams flinch at the gentle reprimand as the younger man quickly turned towards his desk.

"Just finishing the Hanson arrest report now, Lieutenant."

Mills nodded as he cocked an eye brow at Loomings as he ordered, "No, Williams, your partner's going to finish the Hanson arrest report and he better have it on my desk in an hour. I want you in my office, now!" Knowing that his orders would be followed, Mills turned and walked back to the chair behind his desk.

Swallowing hard, Danny glanced questioningly across at his partner, who shrugged and whispered, "You better hurry up and get in there, he's waiting."

Nodding silently, Danny turned and slowly walked across to his Lieutenant's office and entered, casting a quick glance at the older man who was seated in front of the Lieutenant's desk silently watching him, before he looked back at his boss. "You wanted to see me, Lieutenant?"

"Yes Danny, close the door and take a seat." Mills ordered him softly.

Steve eyed the young Vice Squad officer as Danny turned and closed the door before he walked across to take a seat in front of his lieutenant's desk. The officer had sandy curly hair, a little longer than regulation collar length, and five o'clock shadow stubble on his chin, probably the result from sleeping in and not enough time to shave this morning. Dressed in blue jeans and a faded light blue tee-shirt, Williams already looked like he would fit perfectly into the undercover role Steve had in mind for him.

"Danny, this is Mister McGarrett from Five-O," Mills began to make the introductions, wasting no time, as Danny sat down. Danny only had time to turn towards the Five-O lead detective and nod as Mills looked at Steve and rushed on, "Steve, this is the officer I've been telling you about, Danny Williams."

Steve smiled warmly as he turned to young detective sitting beside him, "Good to meet you, son."

"Thank you, Sir." Danny return a small, uncertain smile, now aware that he had been the subject of their discussion before he had been called into Mills' office but not the reason why.

Ignoring the look of confusion on his detective's face as Danny turned back to face him, Mills asked, "Danny, what do you know about the hippy commune on Kauai?"

Danny shrugged, "Not much, only that they're a group of hippies living on a property somewhere in the Haena State Park, I think the locals refer to the commune as Tomlinson's Camp."

"Anything else?" Steve asked, watching him closely.

Danny frowned, running his hand over his head, in a gesture Mills had come to recognize was a habit the younger man did when he was stressed or thinking, "Only that some guy by the name of Tomlinson, a brother of some big-time movie star, bought the property a few years ago and set up the commune and is reputed to be their guru. As far as I know the locals want them gone and there's been a few drug busts for dope, magic mushrooms and some acid…"

Steve nodded, watching the younger man closely, as he asked, "Have you ever had any contact with any of the commune members?"

Danny's frown deepened, and he slowly shook his head, "Umm, no Sir, not that I'm aware of. I mean I had a few friends who decided to buck the system and who joined a couple of communes back on the mainland… but none of them were involved with the commune set up here in Hawaii."

"You even spent some time on a commune yourself, didn't you, Danny?" Mills asked, seeing Steve's eyes widen at the question.

The younger man blushed slightly and shifted uncomfortably in his seat, confused on where this conversation was going, as the Five-O officer sitting next to him seemed to be waiting for his answer. "Umm, yeah, just for a couple of weeks after I moved to Berkeley and was trying to decide about changing my major from Psychology to Police Science." A small smile slipped onto his lips as he fondly remembered those four, too short, weeks before it disappeared, and he remembered where he was. Looking at the lead Five-O detective sitting beside him, he quickly explained, "A friend of mine thought it might help me clear my mind and free my soul if I got back to nature for a while and joined him on a commune down near Los Angeles."

"And did it?"

Danny blinked in surprise at the question before he asked, confused, "Did it what?"

"Did it help you clear your mind?" Steve smiled.

"Yeah, yeah, you could say it did." Danny returned the smile before he grew serious and asked, "But excuse me Sir, what's this all about? I mean the questions about the commune and its members," before glancing across at Mills as he finished asking, "and about the time I spent in a commune?"

"Five-O is investigating the murders of six young women, all young, all have had various hallucinogenic drugs in their systems, all died from manual strangulation and all were last known to be living on-"

"The hippy commune." Danny finished Steve's sentence as he turned back to the lead five-O detective and realized the link between the murders and the lead detective's questions.

"Yes," Steve confirmed.

"But I don't understand, what does the girls' murders on Kauai have to do with me and Vice?" Danny's confusion grew.

"We suspect that the murderer may be someone within the commune, itself. We know that one of the young women, Susan Hartman, reportedly never left the commune, not even to go with the other women and children of the commune when they went into the town to grab supplies," Steve explained.

"And the members don't trust anyone who may be part of the 'Establishment' and aren't willing to co-operate." Danny nodded in understanding, "So you need someone whom they don't know from the investigation to go in and sus them out and I guess that someone might be me?"

"See, I told you the kid was bright, Steve," Mills said proudly.

Steve nodded distractedly, his eyes never leaving the young man sitting next to him, "It is, if you are willing to go undercover for me."

Running his hand over his head again, Danny quickly glanced at his proud lieutenant, who nodded encouragingly, before he looked back at McGarrett as a smile slipped back onto his lips, "Yeah, I will. A few weeks undercover on a commune sounds like fun. When do we get started?"

Steve smiled as he rose from his seat, "Right now," he announced before he stopped and looked back across at Mills, "That's if that's okay with your lieutenant?"

"Yeah, that's fine," Mills nodded before returning his attention back to his detective and ordering, "So you better get out there, Williams, and break the news to your partner that he is going to be working solo for a while."

"Yes, Sir," Danny grinned as he rose from his seat and hurried out of the office.

Unable to stop the soft chuckle from escaping as he watched the young detective's excited exit from the office, Steve turned back to his friend behind the desk and smiled, "Thanks, Kenny."

Mills nodded, his eyes lingering on the young detective who was now talking excitedly to his partner in the bullpen before he looked back at Steve, "Just remember Steve, he's one of my guys, and I want him back in one piece when he's finished, so watch his back for me."

"You know I will," Steve reassured his friend before he turned and walked out into the bullpen.

"I hope so, Steve," Mills murmured softly to himself as he watched Danny look up from his conversation with Matt and nod as Steve spoke and lightly patted him on the shoulder as he walked past. "I really hope so," Kenny sighed again as his newest and youngest detective snagged his denim jacket from the back of his chair before following McGarrett out of the bullpen.