Tracey450 and 2 guests...prizes of honor and glory winging their way across cyberspace to you because you were spot on! This is a tribute to an episode of Airwolf. Bonus honor and glory if anyone gets the name of the episode... There's no more help from this story I'm afraid, all of the borrowed elements were introduced in the first three chapters. And no, there is NOT a helicopter dogfight at the end before anyone who remembers Airwolf asks! I'll tell you which bits of the ep I used at the end just in case anyone's interested.

Anyway, back to the story...

LEFT BEHIND

CHAPTER 4

Steve leant heavily on the edges of the sink, staring critically at his reflection in the mirror. He looked thin and unwell, the shadows under his eyes exaggerating the pallor of his skin. He rubbed a hand across the stubble on his jaw. He knew he should shave but he just couldn't make himself care enough to do it. He glanced over at the door of the john before looking back into his own eyes. He realized at some point one of the team was going to come looking for him but he just needed a few minutes. Just some space and peace and quiet because he couldn't think. The answer was out there somewhere but, no matter what he tried, what evidence they reviewed, who he punched, it eluded him.

This should be just another case, just like any other case. Five-0 always got their man. Always saved the day. Well, almost always. An image of Danny, sitting resolutely facing away from him, flashed to the forefront of his mind. His partner's shoulders were shaking as he wept silently. Matty's remains had just been positively identified. They had known already of course. But just knowing and having irrefutable DNA results emailed to you proved very different things. The stark words 'POSITIVE MATCH' had floored Danny. Steve had ached for him, but there was literally nothing he could say so he had just sat with him, offering unwavering silent support. He wished he could be there for him now, wherever the hell he was. If he was even still alive.

So this wasn't just like any other case at all, not really. He was foolish to even try to palm it off as such. It meant everything to him. It was Danny. Grief and helplessness punched Steve square in the gut without warning and he squeezed his eyes shut, doubling over. He bent his head over the sink and gagged, then sobbed convulsively.

The sound of approaching footsteps jerked him back from the brink and he hurriedly turned on the tap, splashing water on his face in an attempt to conceal the evidence of his near breakdown. The door pushed open and a face peered in. Lou. The expression on the big man's face told Steve that Lou knew fine well what was going on with him right at that moment but the older man didn't call him on it.

"Steve, we've got a call. Duke's needing back-up at Queen's Medical Center. C'mon man, we've gotta go." Lou's voice was laden with concern, but his words were all business.

Steve stared at him dumbly for a moment, jaw slack.

Lou might not have known him for as long as the rest of the team, but he got him. He walked over to Steve, letting the door swing shut. He grabbed his shoulder, ducking his head to look Steve right in the eye. "Look. This isn't us giving up. We're just providing some back-up, that's all, then it's straight back to Danny. Right?"

Steve looked into his eyes for a long moment, then nodded brusquely. He pulled back away from Lou, forcing his hard facade to drop back into place. "Let's go."

...

Steve's Silverado screeched to a stop outside Queen's amidst what appeared to be a sea of marked cop cars, lights flashing brightly in the half-light of the Hawaiian dusk. He and Lou had driven over in silence. Steve had glanced repeatedly in his rear view mirror at Chin and Kono in the car behind. He was all too aware that not one single person was looking for Danny right at that moment.

Steve spotted Duke right away, standing with a group of uniformed officers beside the ER entrance. He appeared to be assigning tasks. The smartly dressed figures broke off in ones and twos, running off with purposeful strides, as the Five-0 team approached.

"Duke, what's the situation?" Steve barked, scanning around and taking in the organized chaos.

Duke shook his head. "I'm still trying to work out exactly what happened. It sounds like some psychiatric patient has escaped from the top floor. A security guard found him lying in the lift one floor down from there. They guy went crazy, knocked the guard out and stole his gun. The guard spilled out in the ER, half out, but the patient wasn't in the elevator with him anymore. He's okay, he's not badly hurt, but the patient's not been located yet. We don't even know if he's on or off the premises. And we haven't been able to make contact with anyone from the floor the guy came from. No one's answering the phones. There may be more injured up there."

Steve shook his head. "That doesn't sound good, Duke. Where are you at, what steps have you taken?"

"I've got the place on lockdown. We've got a cordon round the whole hospital, officers on every stair and elevator exit on the lower two floors and we're in the process of clearing and securing the remainder of the building a floor at a time. Staff and patients are confined to the wards and they've locked up as many doors as possible. Steve, I'm sorry to drag you out, I know you're busy. It just sounds like the guy is highly unstable, he's now armed and this is a hospital. It can't stay shut down like this for long. We need to sort this fast. I wanted as many eyes on the ground as possible."

Steve looked down at the ground for a moment, yet again suppressing the stabbing guilt he was feeling for taking the time out from Danny's case. He nodded sharply. "It's okay. You were right to call us in, Duke. Let's just get it resolved as quickly as possible. You got a description of this guy yet?"

Duke shook his head again. "Not a good one, anyway. The guard just remembers a skinny guy in pajama pants who seemed really out of it. He'll be distinctive enough unless he gets hold of some clothes. The top floor is let out just now to a private company who supposedly specialize in dealing with violent schizophrenics. They have independent CCTV and computer systems so we can't access either from anywhere else in the hospital to try to get images or a name. We're working our way up there as we clear the building."

"Right," said Steve, "We'll head straight up to the top floor, see what the situation is. Lou, Chin, Kono, with me." He turned and strode towards the hospital entrance.

Duke shouted after him. "Steve, the access hasn't been cleared yet. You know there's a right way to do this."

Steve turned back to him. "Yeah, but there's also a fast way. Duke, you know civilian lives are at risk as long as this guy is on the loose. We need to find him and we need to find anyone else he's hurt." He turned back to his team. "Let's go."

…

Steve moved up the stairwell silently, every sense primed for danger. They had reached the 6th floor without encountering a soul and the silence in the stairwell boded well for the team reaching the top floor without incident. The very moment that thought entered Steve's mind the creak of a door on a higher floor had him silently berating himself for tempting fate. He raised his hand to tell the team at his heels to stop. They listened intently.

Footsteps shuffled into the stairwell. Two male voices, hushed, echoed down to them clearly. Mainlanders, west coast, Steve thought.

"This is so fucked up. I can't fucking believe Collins let this happen. We're nowhere near knowing where she is yet. A week max, Collins said. Then he's gotta complicate things and bam- three weeks later and still nothing! And now this?! The boss is gonna kill someone and it is not gonna be me."

"Yeah, so let's find him and try it our way this time. No way did he make it far. He's so juiced he shouldn't even be able to stand up. Come on, let's try the next floor down."

Steve frowned in confusion and glanced behind him. Chin was at his heels and his puzzled expression matched Steve's own because nothing about that little exchange felt right by a long shot. Steve pointed at the entrance way to the next level and Chin nodded, throwing hand signals behind back to Kono and Lou. Steve held his breath, hoping the hinges were well-oiled. They were in luck- the door opened silently and the four team-mates spread out, taking up concealed positions to await the two approaching men. Steve glanced around. They had lucked out- this section of corridor seemed to be home to a series of storage rooms. There were no patients or staff to worry about should force prove necessary in dealing with the unidentified pair.

The stair door opened. Steve flattened himself against the door behind him. He took a deep breath then stepped out right in front of the men, gun already drawn. "Hands up. Now."

The men froze in alarm. Smaller in build than Steve, they stared at his imposing form in fright. They were armed but their reactions had been poor, their guns were still pointing at the ground. They turned as one and ran back towards the stair door.

Steve didn't open fire. He smiled smugly.

As the men reached the door, it swung open in their faces, hard, knocking them clean off their feet. They sat on the ground together in shock, noses and lips bloody, then looked up in disbelief as Kono stepped through the door and stood over them, legs apart and hands on hips.

"Going somewhere, boys?" she purred.

Lou and Chin materialised from their respective hiding places and set about disarming and zip-tying the hapless pair.

Steve knelt down beside the men. He looked at first one then the other. "You're gonna tell me what's going on here, because there's somewhere else I need to be. Got it?"

They didn't reply and he squinted at them, for the first time taking in their attire. "Nurses? Seriously? Since when do nurses carry guns?"

"Look, we had nothing to do with this, right? We're just providing a bit of security," blurted out one of the men. He had to be the younger of the two, maybe 25. He was short and muscular, tattooed from the neck downwards. A classic thug-for-hire.

The second man snapped his head round. "Shut the fuck up. They're not HPD, they're Five-0."

His colleague's eyes opened wide at that apparent revelation. Then a stubborn expression spread across his face, fear quickly hidden. He pursed his lips and looked away.

Steve exchanged glances with his team, because there was something a touch strange about that as well. What difference did it make if they were 5-0 or regular cops? He shrugged. "Okay. I've not got time for this. Chin, Kono- take these idiots down to Duke and have HPD lock them up till we're ready for them." He turned to the tattooed thug again and clapped his cheek. "I'll be seeing you later." His thinly veiled threat was enough to reintroduce the fear in the man's eyes and Steve smiled in satisfaction. He stood up and nodded at Lou. "Let's go on up, big guy." He marched back towards the stairwell.

Lou rolled his eyes, but followed on behind.

...

The locked door to the secure top floor disintegrated with one powerful kick from Steve's big boot and he and Lou strode through the door, splitting up to clear the level with a well-practiced ease.

The door opened onto a hall, complete with nurses' station, computer and files. Two corridors led off it, multiple private rooms off each. Steve made quick progress up his chosen corridor, looking down the sights of his gun as he moved, kicking open each door he encountered without hesitation. And each room revealed the same thing. Nothing. No patients. No staff. Empty rooms, empty beds. The place was a ghost town. It was bizarre. Steve cleared the last room and lowered his gun, frowning. Between the deserted floor and the gun-toting 'nurses', he was getting a really bad feeling about this whole set-up. He turned around to march back to the hall.

"Steve! Here!"

Steve broke in to a run at Lou's call, retracing his steps and entering the second corridor, gun once again raised in front of him. He stuttered to a halt as he came to the last door. Lou was inside, firearm now holstered, busily removing restraints from a semi-conscious man who had been attached to the single bed in the room. Steve looked around uneasily, taking in the padded walls. This had to be where the psychiatric patient had been kept.

Steve walked over to Lou and stared down at the man on the bed. He realized with a start that he knew him. "This guy is a doctor here, Lou. I've dealt with him before. Dr…Collins? Yeah, Dr. Collins."

Lou turned to him. "Collins? Wasn't that the name those idiots in the stairwell said?"

"It was." Steve frowned deeply, trying to make sense of the situation. "Dr. Collins? Can you hear me?" He tapped the man's cheek gently. There was a swollen, bruised area on his temple- looked like he'd been taken out with one blow.

Collins moaned and his eyes flickered open. He focused slowly on Steve's face, then his eyes widened in panic. He pushed weakly at Steve's chest, struggling off the bed and onto his feet.

"Woah, easy doctor. You should stay down."

"No, I'm fine." Collins was leaning heavily on the side of the bed. He cast his eyes around the room fearfully, then fixed his gaze on the door.

"I'm guessing the missing patient came from here, right?" queried Steve. "Can you fill us in Dr. Collins, because I have to say I'm a bit confused."

"Sure. I just…. I just need some air first." With that Collins backed away from them, then turned and started walking briskly down the corridor towards the elevator, clutching his injured head. As he got closer he broke into a run, hitting the call button and turning round frantically to look back at Steve and Lou.

Steve and Lou exchanged a confused look.

"Doctor Collins? The hospital is on lockdown. The elevator's switched off. Where are you trying to go?" Lou's deep voice held an edge of a threat to it.

Collins went white. He spun round and sprinted for the stairwell. Steve sprang into action, running after him and grabbing his shoulder. Collins swung round, aiming a fist at his face. Steve easily dodged. He grabbed the fist and yanked it downwards so Collins landed on his face on the floor with a yelp. Steve planted a knee on his back. He bent down so his face was close to Collins' ear. "I've had about enough of this. You want to tell me what the hell is going on here?"

"No! I need to go! Please!" begged Collins.

Lou shook his head. "Another one for HPD. I do not understand this one bit, McGarrett. Any ideas?" he asked. He pulled out his cuffs and started to secure Collins.

Steve stood up and walked away, shaking his head. He looked over the nurses' station, eyes tracing the neat pile of folders stacked on the desk. He frowned, then took a step closer. He reached out to open the top file. At that moment, his cellphone rang. Still frowning at the folders, he pulled his phone out of his pocket.

"McGarrett." He growled.

It was Duke. "Steve, listen, a couple just had their car jacked about half a mile from here. They're not hurt, just shaken up. They said the perp was only wearing pajama pants and he seemed drunk, could hardly speak. That's got to be our guy, he must have slipped out somehow. I've got multiple units heading to the scene and I've circulated the license plate of the stolen vehicle. No sightings or traffic cam activations as yet. I'm with security now going through CCTV to see where he got out, try to get an image."

"Shit. At least he's away from the hospital. Right, Duke I don't know what the hell has been going on up here. Looks like there was just the one patient on the whole floor. We've located a man who I assume is his doctor and he just tried to run from us! Can you send some officers up here to get this scene secured and start processing it? There's files, computers, the usual. Might tell us what's going on. We'll head down and see if we can catch up with this missing patient and his new stolen wheels."

"Oh. My. God." Steve was about to hang up when Duke's shocked exclamation stopped him in his tracks.

"What is it Duke?"

"Steve? Steve, listen, can you access the CCTV system for that floor?"

Steve glanced at the computer and nodded. "Should be able to, I think. Why? "

"Please, please just look at it. I know what I think I'm seeing but the images are not good and the guy's head is bowed down. He's on his knees in the elevator. I don't want to say in case I'm wrong but I need you to look right now."

"What?" Steve frowned, bemused, but he walked over and flicked on the computer anyway, rapidly identifying and selecting the CCTV system. Lou watched him, still holding his gun on Collins.

Steve hit rewind, still frowning in confusion.

And then his knees nearly buckled. His hand shot out and he hit 'pause'. "Oh my God," he breathed. Because there, captured clearly on screen, was the frantic, unstable, drug-addled man they were looking for. It was Danny. In many ways he was barely recognizable. Clad only in pajama pants, his hair was cut close to his scalp and he was thin. Steve could see every rib. They had to have been starving him. How he could even be on his feet utterly defied explanation.

Steve stood, staring in complete and utter shock and disbelief as a gamut of emotions swept over him. Relief to see his partner alive. Yet horror and fear because his condition, his situation were almost too much to take in. Had Danny really been here all the time? What the hell had they done to him? "Lou!" he croaked, "Lou. It's Danny!" His voice was barely a whisper.

Lou's jaw dropped. "I'm sorry, what did you just say?!" Lou hauled Collins up and dragged him closer to the nurses' station before shoving him back down on the floor. "You move an' I'll ventilate your ass!" he snapped at the doctor, pointing his gun in the man's face. He moved to where he could see the screen and cover the man at the same time. He saw the image and froze, a hand moving reflexively to cover his mouth. "Oh, shit!" he mumbled.

Steve hit 'play' again. He and Lou watched in horror as Danny staggered shakily towards the elevator using the wall to hold himself up. The doors slid open but, before he could step through, two figures ran up behind him. The two fake nurses. One grabbed his arm and twisted it up behind his back, shoving him face-first into the wall and pinning him there. The second jammed a needle in Danny's neck. Danny was motionless for a long moment and the man pinning him seemed to relax, taking half a step back and turning to speak with his colleague. At that point Danny seemed to explode, spinning around and laying out the two men with two consecutive punches. He turned back towards the elevator and literally fell through the open doors. They saw him rise painfully to his knees inside as the doors pulled close.

Steve was gasping with shock, his heart beating at a hundred miles an hour. "Lou, I have to go. I have to find him! Get Chin and Kono and make these idiots talk," he pointed at Collins, face twisting in fury with the fresh knowledge of what the man had had a hand in. "I don't care how! Make them talk and find out what the hell they did to him. You find out who's responsible."

Lou nodded dumbly, still staring at the screen, as Steve ran out of the door.