A/N: Kind of a short chapter, but hopefully entertaining!

Possible new word for your vocabulary: Necropsy. Same thing as an autopsy, but performed on an animal to determine cause of death.

CHAPTER 3

Friday, 12:45pm – Hawai'i State Livestock Commission Headquarters, Mau'i precinct

Ayden Aikau observed the arrival of the State Livestock suburban from his perch on the wooden corral fence set to one side of the livestock building, with a bored frown. The nineteen year old wrangler had more important things to worry about today than a truck load of tourists arriving for a tour of the facilities! How did that cow get sick, that's what he needed to find out? His livelihood – and he understood that to mean his life – depended on discovering what had happened to the cow.

Thus lost in thought, Ayden just managed to look up in time to watch the four individuals pour out from the truck. He squinted from the sun, but also from confusion as he realized the four "tourists" were nothing of the sort. Badges flashed in the bright mid day sun, while service weapons were in plain view at each person's hip.

The first person out of the truck was breath-takingly lovely. An incredibly tall and slender Asian woman, dressed in beige skin tight jeans, a flowing black tank top and combat boots, unfolded herself, stretched, and smiled warmly at something Dr. Nagahara said. Ayden literally had to force his gaze away from the beauty to scout out the rest of the procession.

The three men were an odd assortment – the first being a lean, stoic-looking Asian in a vintage aloha shirt and blue jeans. He appeared to be the oldest, but he walked with an easy, gentle stride, keeping pace with the gorgeous woman. Next in the procession was a hairdo that had Ayden staring in amazement. The blond guy with the perfectly coifed pompadour, although short and solid, walked across the yard with a natural swagger. Arms, bared to the elbow from the rolled-up sleeves of a button-down, powder blue, dress shirt, chopped the air with a swing that indicated a no-nonsense resolve to get the job done. The last man out of the truck, attired in a forest green tee shirt and tan cargo pants, with sailor tattoos on his biceps, sent a chill up Ayden's spine. He knew who this guy was, having seen him on KITV News standing alongside the governor on more than one occasion, usually after a major drug bust or favorable kidnapping conclusion. Ayden knew nothing good was going to come from him being at the livestock yards today. He also knew he needed to find out what their appearance was all about.

Jumping off the five-slatted, six-foot high weathered wooden corral panel, Ayden feigned disinterest as he sauntered across the dusty yard, even though he kept his ears open to catch any phrase uttered by the group ahead of him. Just as he unfortunately expected, Ayden quickly picked up the fact that not just the head of the Governor's major crimes task force, Five-0, was walking into the livestock building, but he'd brought along the rest of his elite team as well!

Following the group into the reception area, Ayden heard enough of the conversation between the veterinarian and the Five-0 team to know he was going to have to place another unpleasant phone call to the boss man. As he began to turn down a side corridor away from the group, Dr. Nagahara, holding the door to the basement stairwell open for his four guests to enter through, called out to him.

"Ayden! Stick around awhile. I'm sure Commander McGarrett would like to ask you a few questions about that cow you brought in to the shipping yards this morning."

Trying to backpedal away from the intense gaze of four sets of eyes directed his way, Ayden attempted to brush off his involvement with the episode in the corrals. "I didn't have much to do with that, Doctor. She must have been sick when we unloaded the cattle truck, but I went inside to do the paper work and when I came out I learned one of the cows was down and not looking good. That's all I know." Ayden squirmed as it became obvious the Five-0 team was not about to be satisfied with such an abbreviated account.

"What's your name?"

It's one thing to see a guy handily taking down criminals on the nightly news, but entirely different to have that man's full attention directed squarely at you from not more than five feet away. Wondering if it was possible that this guy telepathically knew he was involved, Ayden stuttered out "Ayden Aikau, ah, sir."

Steve frowned slightly, sensing the young cowboy's discomfort at being the center of attention. "Why was this kid so nervous," he wondered? He didn't have time to worry about it just now, though, "Be here when we come back from the necropsy. I do want to talk to you."

Necropsy? Shit. "Okay, sure." Ayden was certain he was not going to be anywhere nearby, considering what he knew they were going to find inside that dead cow!

H50H50H50H50

Walking into the stark, bare examination room, Danny wrinkled his nose at the overwhelming odor of a mixture of strong chemicals and bovine body fluids. The enclosure was nothing like Max's pristine autopsy room. There was no deceased body, decorously covered by a white sheet, lying on a disinfected examination table, for one thing. No soft strains of classical music playing gently on the sound system in the background. Instead, there was a dead cow lying on its side on a giant-sized green plastic tarp laid out in the middle of a darkly stained concrete floor. Rigor had set in, and all four legs stuck straight out in rigid formation from the distended body. Said black cow had a most surprised look upon her face as she stuck out her enlarged tongue at the group of people entering the vet's domain. Hoses were snaked across the floor, while drains were situated at the four corners of the room, and the floor itself was slanted to the edges. A stark white medical lamp hung from the ceiling. There was not a delicate scalpel or hemostat in sight. Electric powered saws, meat cleavers, and hooks were lined up alongside stainless steel basins on a rusty enamel-coated metal table.

It was obvious McGarrett was enthralled by the sight before them. Steve walked around the cow, closely observing the animal's bloated appearance, all the while apparently oblivious to the putrid odor emanating from said carcass.

"Well, this just takes the cake," Danny mumbled under his breath.

Kono's eyes were watering, and she seemed about ready to back silently from the room, when Steve finally finished his once over examination of the black cow lying in state before them, and turned his attention to his team.

"Cool. That's quite a cow! How big a rib eye do you think it has?" Steve asked, spreading his hand out as wide as possible to indicate his opinion of the rib eye, while grinning widely at Danny. Obviously, Steve was enjoying a little payback for Danny's earlier heifer/steer comments. Chin rolled his eyes once again at this latest testosterone contest, and patted Danny on the back as the Jersey cop just stood there, gaping at his apparently deranged partner.

"You are a very sick man. You know that, right? How can you think about dinner when that cow probably died from a very, very bad, and highly contagious, I might add, disease? I have a mind to call Grace right now and tell her no hamburgers for her while she's in Las Vegas. In fact, we might become vegetarians." Danny sputtered, while turning a rather sickly shade of green under his flushed brow.

Getting the desired reaction, Steve - along with Kono who, thoroughly enjoying the banter enough to have made a miraculous recovery herself - was laughing heartily at Danny's expense when Dr. Nagahara and his assistant entered the room. "Shall we proceed, Commander?" queried the vet.

H50H50H50

"Interesting! No visible evidence that this brain has been infected with BSE." Dr. Nagahara was forty-five minutes into his necropsy. Wielding a hefty Stihl chainsaw, he had removed the head from the carcass, slit the skull in half, and proceeded to examine the brain.

Turning towards his guests in the necropsy room, his enthusiasm was obvious. The four friends had another "déjà vu" moment as an image of Dr. Max Bergman popped uninvited into their collective minds.

"An infected brain should have visible lesions, especially at end stage, but this brain appears quite normal. Of course, I will take samples and run further tests, but I'm not so sure this cow has the disease after all." Puzzled, but excited by this new found mystery, Pilipo placed the brain in an aluminum bowl and continued removing organs from the carcass, oblivious to the reactions of his observers.

"Well, joy! Our job is done! No Mad Cow, no fear of the islands turning into the Walking Dead's newest hang out, no threat to the Hawaiian beef industry. Case closed. Let's go get a Longboard, or ten." Danny was already heading towards the exit sign, when he was stopped in his tracks by his partner.

"We don't know that for sure yet, Danny. "

"You are correct, Commander," Dr. Nagahara agreed, remembering he had Five-0 waiting for his decision on the cow's death. "I will have to examine samples under the microscope to be able to establish cause of death with confidence, but at this point, COD is inconclusive. As such, I would continue to treat this as an active case of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy until proven otherwise."

"And if you can't "confidently establish" Mad Cow, what else could have killed this presumably normal cow?" Danny was not happy. He was so done with this whole business. He wanted – no, needed, a shower, a meal (fish was sounding really good at the moment) and a cold beer, and he needed to get out of this chamber of bovine death that was compressing the ever-loving life out of him! But no, his determined partner was not satisfied yet.

"I need to examine the rest of the cow's organs. I'll try to pinpoint COD by this evening, Detective." As his gaze fell upon Commander McGarrett, Pilipo quickly realized he needed to find COD as soon as possible in order to prove his worth to this formidable-looking gentleman standing in front of him, nonchalantly – but oh, so dauntingly – resting his hand on the butt of his very large gun.

Steve nodded in approval. "Chin, Kono, stay here and let me know as soon as Dr. Nagahara comes to a conclusion." Turning towards his second in command, Steve continued: "Let's go, Danny. You and I need to talk to that cowboy who brought the cow in this morning. Find out where on the island the cow came from. I want to check the site out today yet." Steve led his rather wilted partner to the exit.

-That wasn't too gruesome, was it? Nah...oh, wait! We're not done with that necropsy yet! Thanks for reading.