Steve motioned for Danny to stop and listened before moving into the crawlspace. He nodded to Williams and knew the man was as worried as he was, but right now the hostages needed to be taken care of. If they could get some of them out of the pit before anyone noticed, then they were ahead of the game. If not, then they'd need to come up with an alternate plan.

"Danny, give me ten minutes. If I can get some of the kids out I'll send them to you. If not I'll do a quick recon and come back," McGarrett whispered.

"Be careful," Williams ordered.

"You too," McGarrett said and made his way toward the orchestra pit. He could hear someone cursing and did his best to be quiet when he saw light spilling inside from the pit. He stayed in the shadows until he reached the opening and looked out at the adults and kids. He could see at least a dozen children and one adult and hoped he could get the young woman's attention without startling any of them.

"Miss Maple…there's someone in there."

"Sh, Billy, stay where you are and watch for those men," the woman ordered. "Who are you?"

"Steve McGarrett with Five-O…is there any way you can keep an eye on those men while I get this open?"

"Most of them are near the door. They don't seem to think we're a threat," the woman said.

"Good, let's try to keep it that way," McGarrett told her.

"Is he going to help us, Miss Maple?" a young boy asked.

"He's going to try, Daniel, but we have to be quiet okay?"

"Okay," the boy said and sat beside his drama teacher.

Steve worked at the latch and breathed a sigh of relief when it opened without too much effort on his part. He knew he would need to move out of the crawlspace in order to let the kids move inside and hoped Sing and his men remained where they were. He moved out and nodded to the woman before chancing a glance above the rim of the stage. There was no one on the mezzanine and sing's men were far enough away that they could not see what was happening in this area. If they worked quickly they could have the majority of the kids to safety before Sing realized something was wrong. If they were really lucky all the kids in the pit could be moving through the crawlspace and out to safety. That would leave just the hostages on the stage, and hopefully it would give him a better chance to get them to safety.

"Someone's coming," the woman said and watched as one of the men walked to the edge and peered into the pit. She silently prayed that he did not see McGarrett and breathed a sigh of relief when he moved away from the edge. "He's gone."

"Keep an eye on them while I get as many of the kids through as I can," McGarrett ordered softly. He motioned for the boy closest to him to go through, but the child shook his head emphatically.

"Go ahead, David, it's safe," the teacher said.

"I'm scared," the boy whispered.

"I know, but there's nothing in there to hurt you…"

"Spiders…"

"Maybe, but you just leave them alone and they'll leave you alone…now go," the woman told him, relieved when the boy did as she told him. She had no idea how much time they had before one of those men returned to check on them, but she was going to get as many through as she could. She motioned for the next girl to go and was relieved when the child didn't argue. Four more went through before she signaled they had company again and made sure she was able to keep the man from seeing McGarrett.

5050505050

Danny smiled as the first child stepped out of the doorway and told him to wait by the kitchen. He wanted to get them out, but right now he had to stay here and guide the other through. A total of six kids stepped out, and he waited, breathing quietly as he listened for any sign of trouble. He fought the urge to call out, and hoped whatever was happening didn't mean Steve's presence had been discovered.

5050505050

Steve remained quiet and listened as the man told the kids to be quiet and behave themselves or their teacher would die and silently cursed. He waited until the woman signaled that they could start moving the children again and smiled when a little girl hugged him before moving into the crawlspace. McGarrett knew the next time the man came to check on the hostages, he would notice some were missing. He motioned for those nearest him to keep moving and wished he had some way to get them all out.

"You go through now," McGarrett told the woman seated nearest him and was glad she did so without him repeating himself. There were still at least a dozen hostages, but most of the kids had already gone through. He motioned to a young girl standing a few feet away, but before she could move he heard a sharp curse and orders were given to shoot the next person who moved.

Steve didn't move when something was pressed against the base of his skull. He knew there was no point in going for his weapon as another hostage was forced to her knees and a gun pressed against her temple.

"Who the hell are you and where are the kids?" Tommy Sing snarled and moved to stand in front of Steve.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," McGarrett said as the man standing behind him pulled the gun from his thigh holster.

"I know that bastard. He's McGarrett….head of Five-O," one of the men on the stage said. "Kill him now, Tommy…bastard's more trouble than he's worth."

"Five-O…heard tell of your people, McGarrett, you're not so much. Where are my kids?"

"They're not your kids!" McGarrett spat and grunted as something struck his lower back.

"They must have gone out through there," the man who'd taken Steve's gun said.

"Go bring the little bastards back!" Sing ordered and looked at the remaining hostages. "I bet you people think he's a hero, but he's not. All he's done is given me a cop as a hostage. Not such a bad trade…say goodnight, McGarrett!"

Before he could react Steve felt something strike him in the back of his head and he fell to the floor of the orchestra pit. He tried to turn on his side, but a boot connected with the right side of his forehead and darkness reached out to claim him.

5050505050

Danny knew something was wrong the minute the kids stopped coming through. It felt different than the first time and he turned to the woman who'd come through with the kids. He prayed she was familiar with the school as he ordered. "Take them out through the rear doors and stay clear of the auditorium."

"Thank you…children, come with me!" Lauren Maple ordered and heard her kids away from the door.

Williams listened for several minutes and was on the verge of going into the crawlspace when he heard movement inside. He knew it wasn't one of the kids, and probably not one of the other hostages because whoever it was didn't try to keep the noise level down. He moved to the side and reacted as soon as the butt of a pistol came through.

Danny grabbed the pistol and reached for the arm it was attached to before the man had a chance to realize his mistake. He struck the man several times in the chest and head until the man fell to the floor. Once he was down, Danny grabbed his arms and pulled them behind his back so he could place cuffs around his wrists.

"He'll kill McGarrett!" the man snarled.

"Steve's not that easy to kill!" Williams spat and dragged the man across the floor. He now knew Steve had been caught, but at least they'd managed to rescue about half the hostages, most of them kids. He shoved the man toward the door and started down the hall, away from the auditorium. "In case you didn't know you're under arrest!"

5050505050

"We have movement at the main door!" Duke called as Swat set up their base of operations.

"Don't shoot!" Lauren Maple called as she opened the door and began shooing the kids out. They were met by members of HPD and quickly taken to safety behind the police line.

"How did you get out?" a SWAT team member asked.

"McGarrett showed us how to get out through the crawlspace," Lauren answered as the children huddled close to her.

"Danny!" Chin called when he spotted Williams dragging a man out of the building. The last thing he'd seen on the screen was Tommy Sing kick Steve in the head and then had his men drag him up on the stage where they used his own cuffs to secure his arms behind his back.

"Duke, make sure this guy doesn't escape," Williams said and joined Chin at the surveillance van. "Have we still got live feed?"

"We do…looks like they got Steve," Chin answered and pointed to the unmoving man lying in the center of the stage.

"I figured as much when that bastard came out. How many hostages are left inside?" Williams asked and turned to count the students standing with their teacher and surrounded by HPD who were doing everything to keep the reporters away. "It looks like we got 14 kids and a teacher."

"That leaves a dozen hostages, not including Steve," Chin told him.

"Chin, Sing is demanding he speak with whoever's in charge," Duke called.

"That would be me," the head of the SWAT team said.

"Actually, Five-O has jurisdiction," Williams said. "Contact the governor if you have a problem with that."

"Easy, Danny, we're all on the same side here," Chin said.

"Sorry, look, we have one of ours in there and we want to get him out. Let Chin talk to Sing while you and I speak to Makala about the best place to set up your team," Williams offered and noticed the man didn't want a confrontation at this point either.

"Makala?" the Swat team leader asked.

"She's the architect who made the changes to the school…she's also the reason we were able to free over half the hostages," Williams said and turned to Chin. "Find out everything you can about the situation in there. We need to get them out before Sing goes ballistic."

"I think he already has," Chin said and reached for the button to connect his call. "This is Chin Ho Kelly…"

"I don't give a rat's ass who you are, but if you try anything like that again I'll start shooting and the first one I hit will be the bastard behind the whole thing. You got that?"

"I got it," Chin said.

"Good, because now you got one hour instead of two. Get that bitch here or the next shot you hear will send a bullet into the cop's head," Sing snapped and the line went dead.

"Kono," Chin said and waited for the woman to look up from whatever she was doing at Five-O headquarters. "Tell me you found her?"

"I found her, Chin, but she says she doesn't want anything to do with Sing and from what little I've found out I can't say that I blame her. He was abusive to her and their daughter," Kono explained.

"Tell her we just need her to come down and talk to him. We're not going to turn either of them over to him, but she could buy us some time," Chin said.

"I'll try…how are things going there? The local news is already reporting that some of the hostages are free."

"Steve and Danny got them out, but Steve got caught. I'll keep you up to date on what's happening here, but you need to keep after Mrs. Sing."

"I will," Kono said.

If anyone could convince Sing's ex-wife to come down, it was Kono, but right now they needed to figure out the best way to proceed if things went downhill. So far they were ahead of the game, but he didn't think Sing would be as lax with his hostages as he'd been. That meant they had to be even more careful and hope that the SWAT team could get a shot off if it came down to that.

5050505050

Paulina stayed back and watched what was happening at the school. She'd driven down here as soon as she'd hung up the phone and knew she'd cut off a few people along the way. It didn't matter, not when she knew her beloved was in trouble. How could he be so damn callous with his life when she was almost ready for him? Why were people always relying on him to protect them? Why couldn't he see they didn't deserve him? He belonged with her. He deserved to be taken care of, to be loved and protected and she would make damn sure he realized that.

Paulina spotted Danny Williams and Chin Ho Kelly talking to a man and woman and edged closer so that she could hear what they were saying. She knew she had to stay back, or one of the men might recognize her, but they seemed to be engrossed in whatever they were looking at. She heard Williams say her lovers name and her eyes shot open when she realized he had been caught and was now a hostage.

Her eyes grew wide as she looked at the group of kids and she knew why Steve had done what he did. He would always protect the children, but that would have to stop once they were together. He would not be allowed to put his own life in danger no matter what the reason.

"Mrs. Sing is terrified of her ex and she told Kono she wouldn't bring her daughter down here," Chin told Danny.

"What about her…is she coming down?" Williams asked.

"Kono convinced her she would be helping to save some lives. She should be here in less than half an hour," Kelly explained.

"Sing will start sending out bodies if she doesn't show up…beginning with Steve," Williams said and turned around.

Paulina realized he was looking toward her and quickly moved back into the crowd before he had a chance to realize who she was. She knew she had to do something to get Steve out of there, but she would have to get inside to do that and so far the police seemed to have every entrance covered.

TBC

Author's note- Just wanted to say thanks to all who favorite and alerted and followed this one. Also want to thank those who sent reviews. I answered the ones I could, but some would not allow me to do so and I wanted you guys to know I really appreciate the encouragement…..Winnie