Thanks for all the wonderful reviews, once again. It means a lot to get feedback on a story that I'm not always sure is up to par. Hopefully you all like this chapter, and please let me know what you think.

All standard disclaimers apply.


Danny's leg was bouncing up and down nervously as he sat on the bench in the zoo, next to the elephant enclosure. It was a few hours from closing and he had watched the exhibits empty out substantially over the last hour, anxiously waiting for some sign of whoever he was meeting for the ransom exchange.

It wasn't just the exchange itself that made him nervous, although it wasn't helping that they didn't have a confirmation of any details save for the general location and the time for the drop, that they didn't have a confirmation about who they were supposed to be meeting, that they didn't have a confirmation of anything, really. But what made him truly jittery was the fact that he didn't have everything—or even really anything—that had been requested by the man in the mask. He gingerly rubbed his hands over his face as he thought about the previous few hours.

He had told the Five-0 team that they were to assemble one million dollars and deliver that along with Sara Marquez, set and ready to go, which would then be traded for the location of where Steve was being held.

At first the girl had seemed like the easy part. Kono had run her name immediately, finding that she had been arrested during a joint investigation between Five-0 and HPD six months ago. According to the report and their own vague memories, she had been the only individual captured alive when a meth house had exploded in a remote area of the city; everyone inside the house had perished, and the girl had received substantial injuries even in her hiding place outside. She had escaped detection in the woods behind the house, missed in the thermal scan the team had done from the helicopter by sliding under a still-warm car, and had only been found after the house had blown apart. The explosion wasn't a result of their investigation, as had been determined later: the compounds the cookers were using were wildly unstable, the fire marshal had reported, and would have likely exploded with or without the knock on the door from their robot. The explosion and deaths of those involved in distributing the meth had inadvertently helped cripple a very large drug ring on the island, and many in the Honolulu Police Department had considered it a success. Sara Marquez, determined to be a low-level dealer, had been arrested and transported to the prison infirmary as soon as she was stable.

But now that this girl was suddenly the focus of the vendetta against Steve, and the fact that the man on the tape had seemed to imply there was more to her than met the eye, it seemed like everything they had understood about her may have been wrong. Nonetheless, Kono immediately called the warden at the prison, wanting to talk to her at the very least, and hopefully take custody of her for the day in order to use her in the exchange and track her back to where they were holding Steve, and whoever had set this whole thing into motion. As they were waiting for the return call from the jail, it seemed like they might be able to check one thing off their list.

The money had been the harder part. None of the team had access neither to that kind of cash, nor to anybody that would easily be able to give it to them. The last time they had needed such a large sum, they had stolen it from the evidence locker, but that had ended going to hell in all sorts of ways, and they didn't have the resources or time to resort to that again. They tried to pool together everything they had, had contacted the governor for his help, had tried to look into taking out loans just to get the money. But in the end, there just wasn't enough, and not enough time. The governor couldn't authorize that amount be handed over to the team to use in negotiations for what he deemed as terrorists, as it was against policy, and had explained this all to them so calmly that Danny had to restrain himself from explaining how asinine the governor's policy was with a few choice words.

So in the end they had taken two thousand dollars, in hundred dollar bills, and placed them on the top and bottom of photocopied bills, to give the appearance that they had the cash. It was a risky plan and it set Danny's stomach roiling every time he thought about the fact that they were risking Steve's life with it, were risking his best friend, but there wasn't another option they could find. Not in such a short time table.

While Kono was still combing through police reports, trying to get more information on Sara Marquez, and Chin was filling up the bag, Danny told them that he would be back in a few minutes, that he needed a break. He could feel the nervous energy and worry building up to almost unbearable levels, making him jumpy, irritable and antsy—even more than he had been for the past few days. There was a possible finish line in sight, and the knowledge that they could bring Steve home tonight made the waiting game impossible for him. If he was going to be able to do the job, complete the ransom drop, then he needed to see something other than these four walls.

So he got in his car, the ghost of his partner haunting him every mile, and drove aimlessly for a bit, eventually finding himself at the McGarrett home. Steve's truck was in the driveway, as Danny had picked him up on the way to the crime scene on that fateful day. For a moment, as he parked behind the blue behemoth, he could almost delude himself into thinking that everything was fine, that he was simply meeting Steve for a drink after work, that his best friend was safe and whole, their fight forgiven.

But there was a stillness in the air, a quietness that revealed the truth. Danny gingerly stepped out of the car and made his way to the front door. He unlocked it quickly with the spare key hanging on his key ring that Steve had given him years before, finding comfort in the familiarity of grooves in the handle in his hand. The door pushed open under his light touch, and he stopped for a moment, taking in the utter Steve-ness the space exuded.

There was a book open on the side table, next to the couch that had a shirt thrown haphazardly over the back. Danny knew that, being such a tidy person, Steve had probably intended to put it away when he had returned home that night, only he had had never gotten the chance. Danny wandered into the kitchen, noting the plate and coffee mug in the sink. He craned his head around and saw Steve's running shoes sitting by the back door, the bottoms crusted with sand. Turning around, Danny made his way up the stairs, noting that Steve had taken the time to make his bed that morning, though he had failed to take a glass of water downstairs, leaving it sitting on the nightstand.

The blonde man walked back downstairs, pausing one more time to take a deep breath in, trying to take the peace of the house with him. He could feel some of his anxiety leaving him, and determination taking its place. He needed to get his best friend back, get his partner back to chasing down criminals, and Danny knew that he needed to focus on that determination to get that done.

So as he left Steve's home, he held onto that anger burning inside him, fueling him, and brought it back with him as he returned to the headquarters, clapping his hands and demanding to know what was new as soon as he walked in the door. As he settled back into their rhythm, he relied on that renewed strength to get through the rest of the day before the ransom drop was scheduled to happen.

But it was only an hour before they were getting ready to leave that Kono found out more about Sara Marquez, something that complicated the entire situation and made the liability of what they were about to do skyrocket.

They had gathered in the main hall of the headquarters, Chin and Danny preparing for the ransom drop by wiring the latter up with recording devices of the visual and auditory varieties. They were going over the plan once more, rehearsing what was going to be said and done, making backup plans and going over those as well, when Kono cursed whilst on the phone.

"Sorry, no it's just, we really needed to talk to her…. Yeah, of course…. Uh huh, thanks. Bye." She ended the call quickly and slammed her phone down violently on the table. "We're screwed."

Immediately both of them looked at her, freezing in their motions. "What? Why?" Danny demanded quickly, any positive emotions left over from earlier diminishing quickly as he took in the expression on her face. "What is it?"

"That was the warden obviously. The death certificate hasn't been filed yet, but apparently yesterday, another inmate stabbed Sara Marquez to death, in an apparent gang rivalry. They didn't even have time to take her to the hospital—she died in the prison."

"Shit. This is bad. Really, really bad."

"Yeah. The warden said they haven't even notified the family yet, although I don't know who they would notify because according to everything that I've found out about her, Sara Marquez didn't have any relatives. She was an only child, and her parents died when she was young."

"Then who in the world will they notify?" Chin demanded quickly.

"I don't know. But we just lost our biggest bargaining chip. We can't hand her over, and without the money, we're screwed. What are we going to do?" Kono and Danny looked at each other in panic for a few seconds, before realizing that Chin was busy typing away at something. "Cuz? You got something?"

"Maybe. Something you said made me think—what if she wasn't an only child?"

"Are you high?" Danny spat out immediately, not appreciating the wild turn this conversation had taken. "Kono's been looking at this stuff all day."

"I know, Danny, but bear with me for a second. Obviously there's someone listed as Sara's next of kin that the warden is going to call, someone that can't be a blood relative, but nonetheless cares about her enough to be there for her. Now, Sara's parents died when she was a teenager, but they weren't both her parents—at least not biologically. Look at this," he said, swiping whatever he had been reviewing onto the screens where they could all see it. "Here's a marriage record between Sara's mom, Betsy, and one Javier Cruz. According to this, Javier had a son, Raymond. This certificate was filed two years before her mother and stepfather died-maby just enough time for Sara and Raymond to bond. If that's true, he not only, therefore, would be motivated to get her out of prison because he sees her as family—and blames us for putting her there—but maybe because she was a more integral part of the operation than we thought."

"Wait, what?" Danny asked, his mind spinning at the sudden change of thoughts.

Kono, didn't seem to have the same problem though. "Wait, Raymond Cruz? As in the guy suspected of running the meth house we busted?"

"Yes, that Raymond Cruz. It was always suspected that he had a partner in the operation, one doing the day-to-day management, who oversaw the making of the product, but we couldn't prove anything. And with everyone dead, there wasn't anyone left to question. We weren't able to catch Raymond, even if we brought down much of his organization, but maybe we captured his silent partner."

"Okay, colour me impressed for figuring that out," Danny said, somewhat snappily, "but can we get back to the business at hand? Sara Marquez, whoever she was and however important she was to Cruz—who admittedly is probably the guy that set this all up which is a good piece of information—is still dead. Cruz doesn't know this yet, but as soon as he finds out, we're screwed. We're screwed anyway, because we can't turn her over."

"Well, I can call the warden back and have her hold the call to the next of kin," Kono responded immediately. "That takes care of that. As for the other…I'm not sure what we do."

Silence reigned for a moment before Danny spoke. "Chin, pull up a picture of Sara again." There was an unasked question in the other man's eyes, but regardless he did as requested.

"What are you thinking, Danny?"

"Well, look at her. According to her driver's license she was 5'10", 120 pounds, dark hair, dark eyes. Maybe, just maybe, whoever is coming to make the ransom drop doesn't know exactly what she looks like, and maybe, just maybe, if that person is looking at her from a distance, Kono could pass for her. So instead of doing a straight trade off and tracking Sara back, maybe we try to get the information first with the promise of revealing Sara's location."

"Do you think that will work?" Kono asked quietly. "If it doesn't, we could lose Steve. These aren't the type of people to mess around."

"Don't you think I know that? Believe me, I've seen the videos—I don't think I'll ever be able to get them out of my ead. But I think it's the only play we've got right now. It's the eleventh hour."

"Okay," Chin said after a moment of thought. "Let's do this."

So they had decided to make Kono look as much like Sara Marquez as possible and hope to heaven above that their contact would play along with their plan. Within a half an hour, they had the fake ransom and fake girl ready to go, Chin following behind in a separate car with backup.

And now Danny was waiting on the bench in the zoo, unsure if what he was about to do was going to get his best friend killed or save his life. He looked up from where he was sitting, and subtly spoke into his mic to update the others. "I don't have anything yet. No one seems out of the ordinary, and—wait. I might have a guy coming towards me now." He watched as the guy checked Danny over, making a purposeful note of the black bag sitting beside him on the bench. "We're a go," the blonde man whispered quietly, just before the other man came into earshot.

The man was not one of the men they had seen in either one of the videos, but neither did he match the picture of Raymond Cruz they had found. Whoever he might be, he moved like a man on a mission, immediately stopping in front of Danny and pointing at the bag. "You have the money I presume?" The question was posed in perfect English, though with a slight Russian accent.

Filing away the location for later, Danny nodded, carefully not looking in the direction of where either Chin or Kono were located, forcing himself to breathe evenly so as not to betray his nerves. "It's in the bag. Where's my partner?"

The man shook his head quickly. "It doesn't work like that, Detective Williams. You say you have the money, fine. But that's only half of what is needed for an exchange. Where's the girl?"

"She's here," Danny replied, his pulse skyrocketing. "I'll tell you exactly where she is once I know that my partner is still alive, and once you give me his location. I'm only going to give you Sara then."

"Nyet." The Russian man reached for the bag, which he unzipped, quickly perused, nodded and zipped shut, and then faced Danny again—who let out a quick breath he had been holding as the money was being inspected—with a scowl on his face. "The girl is to be produced now, or else I will make a call and your partner's dead body will be dumped on your doorstep later this evening. Unless you want to deal with that, I suggest you bring the girl out now."

Danny knew that this man wasn't bluffing, and though this wasn't the plan, wasn't the play that he wanted to make without getting any information first, he knew there wasn't another option. So, with a sigh, he nodded slowly. "I'll make the call, okay? Just don't do anything else." The man nodded, apparently satisfied for the moment, though he watched Danny like a hawk as he brought out his cell phone. The Jersey man dialed Chin's number quickly, shifting slightly to face away from the imposing mercenary, trying to ignore the slight tremor in his hands. "Bring her out," he said quickly as soon as Chin answered, knowing that it was all for show, as they had been listening to the entire conversation through his ear piece anyway. Without waiting for a reply, he hung up and slipped the phone back into his pocket, turning back to face his opponent head on.

As he turned though, he saw the Russian man slip a photo out of his pocket, a photo of Sara Marquez. Danny cursed quietly. Even with the dark hair, makeup they had added to give Kono an unhealthy pallor, the height and weight, the passing similarity to the dead girl, Danny knew it wasn't going to be good enough. Not with a photo of a real girl right in front of this man, who clearly didn't know her but knew her face. Knew her face well enough to know that the girl they were trying to present him with wasn't the one he was paid to get.

He could hear Chin in his earpiece asking what was wrong, but it was too late. The cousins were walking towards him, Kono in front, shuffling a little in some beat up clothes, head down, her cousin behind, strongly and swiftly guiding her forwards. There was no way to abort it now, and as soon as the Russian saw that it wasn't Sara, it wouldn't matter if they'd had a million dollars or not. They were screwed.

Steve was screwed.

And sure enough as soon as Kono drew close enough, as she lifted her head just slightly, Danny could see the man beside him stiffen, hand going to his side where a gun was most assuredly concealed. "Nyet!" He said harshly, angrily. "That is not the girl that you were told to bring. I don't know what you're trying to do, but that is not what was agreed upon." Immediately he started backing away, black bag full of mostly fake money still in hand, the other grasping the gun under his jacket firmly now. "You will watch your friend die, now. You have killed him." The man spat on the ground at their feet, holding up a hand as Danny started to protest, started to follow him in his flight backwards. "No, make no attempt to follow me or justifications. You have signed your friend's death warrant with this…this charade, this mockery," he spat out the last word, and Danny couldn't help but flinch, "and unless you want to join him in his early grave, I suggest you stay here until I am gone or your brains will be splattered all over the little children behind you. Or maybe I'll just start shooting the kids until you let me leave." Then, throwing the bag away from him on the ground, he started moving backwards again.

Danny wanted to tackle the man, to stop him from leaving, to beat the location of Steve out of him, but he had a gun and there were kids, a terrible hostage scenario waiting to happen. Even though they outgunned him, Danny had a feeling he'd go down fighting. So, in what felt like a decision where he chose the potential safety of the dozens of kids around him to the life of his partner, Danny let the man walk away, let him fade back into the crowd of people pouring out of the zoo. As he disappeared from sight, Danny turned around to face the cousins, sure that their stunned and horrified expressions matched his own. There were no words in that moment, but they all knew what the others were thinking.

What have we just done?


Let me know what you think-I'd love to get your opinion on this chapter. The next one will be up next Thursday!

Charlotte