The men fell silent as the choice was made. The tight ohana knew Steve, and they knew there was no turning back now. "Duke, give me a walkie-talkie."

Mentally preparing for the possibility that he could be left in charge, Chin worried, "What if the worst happens, Steve, and Danny shoots you before you shoot him?"

Shuddering at the thought, Steve took a deep breath and replied, "Chin, if that happens, it'll be up to you to get him out. I don't want anybody else to try this—to take this responsibility…," as he uncharacteristically fumbled with his thoughts.

Firmly, he followed up, "If I fail and get hit, make the call for backup, and…," then lost the thought in the emotion of the moment and more gently, eyeing Chin, pleaded, "try not to hurt him."

The other men looked at each other, hoping that the objective was indeed attainable. Steve looked at each of them individually, and Doc said, "Just be careful, Steve."

With a nod, Steve acknowledged the advice and inwardly knew the words were a legitimate warning and that he would be wise to heed them.

After taking another look in front of him at the lay of the barnyard turned battlefield, Steve ran for safety behind another barricade that would put him closer to his target—Dan's LTD. He made it safely with no bullets flying in response.

Was Danno backing down? Perhaps he had lost consciousness. Maybe he had come to his senses. Or was he lulling his prey into a false sense of security to draw him closer in for the kill?

Steve's mind swam with the sheer possibilities of what was going on with his friend. His friend! How could he be in this nightmarish position of preparing to shoot Danno? Despite the danger of letting his guard down, he could not help but close his eyes tightly against the fear of hurting the person to whom he had grown closer than anyone before.

In this solitary shelter behind the car, away from the others, he silently prayed to God that Danno would come out of this all right—and that his own aim would be sure.

In the starkness of that moment, he heard himself pray—that his aim would be sure. What kind of a prayer was that? Trusting God for the successful aim of a bullet, but not trusting Him that his friend could be verbally negotiated out of his hideout, could be talked into believing what was real over what was imaginary?

In his mind, Steve believed God could command the laws of science to control an inanimate object. But people? Come on! Steve's jaded memory was filled to capacity with a parade of tricky characters on whom he wouldn't bet a plug nickel that there was any supernatural influence on them at all—other than evil.

People! Much too volatile, too unpredictable. Maybe too independent and self-sufficient to let God or anyone else control their actions.

Independent. Self-sufficient. Volatile. Unpredictable. Wasn't he describing himself?

Yes.

And would he put his friend Danno in the same parade of divinely uncontrollable personalities that overflowed his mind?

No.

Steve opened his eyes to see the dire situation in a new light. It wasn't at all hopeless that Danno could come out of this standoff of his own accord. I don't have to shoot him.

Steve laid his gun down on the sandy soil. He opened the mike on the walkie-talkie. "Chin, there's been a change of plans."

The crackle of the voice from the walkie-talkie startled the four men hunched behind Steve's Mercury, but not nearly as much as what was said. "I'm going up to the doors, and I'm going to talk to him." It wasn't so much a surprise that Steve could not bear to hurt his friend or that he was willing to risk harm to himself, but that he had backed down from a decision in mid-stream. It didn't happen often.

"I'm going to keep the mike open so you can hear what's going on. Remember what I told you, Chin, if anything happens…. Stand by."

Chin responded simply, "Got it. Be careful."

Slowly, trying to look more confident than he felt, Steve approached the hay barricade. Not wanting to startle Danny, he deliberately walked straight up the middle toward the doorway, actually hoping Danny would see him. As he walked, he strained his eyes to see inside but saw no movement in the dark barn other than from the horses.

He arrived and stood to the outside right of the barricade. "Danno?" he called several times. No response. Not really wanting his friend to be found unconscious due to injury but considering the advantage that would give him, Steve hoped for the best. He dared to start to move one of the top hay bales, to see if he got a reaction—at least enough to know Danny's location inside the large barn.

When there was no reaction, he dared further to progress to moving the whole bale, then another, then another, until he had created an opening large enough to walk through. And so he did.

Steve McGarrett stood just inside the barn and urged his eyes to adjust quickly from the bright afternoon sunshine outside to the shadows inside. When they did, he saw horses as the only live occupants, but there were walls of stalls and other hay bales enough to hide a man behind. As he perused the scene, he heard a voice from above.

"Don't move."