Detective Danny Williams ducked unsuccessfully to avoid a mass of cobwebs hanging from the ceiling of the abandoned high rise building. It'd once been a thriving office building until a typhoon had hit three years ago. The storm damage had been so severe that the company had decided to move instead of rebuilding.

"Why hasn't this place been torn down if real estate is so valuable?"Danny asked his partner as they walked the twentieth floor.

"Legal red tape."Steve McGarrett replied from a few paces behind. "A claim of ownership's been stuck in court since the storm. Several phony companies were listed as owners of this piece of land. They're still trying to detangle the mess to determine proper ownership so the sale can go through. The company that had this building was leasing. They put in a bid but didn't want to deal with the headache of the court proceedings."

"Don't blame them."Danny said. "Sounds like a headache and a half."

The blond man shown his flashlight into every dark corner as they walked. Normally this kind of grunt work was left to the HPD but when a California Senator's six year old son goes missing while on a family vacation everybody searches. With a daughter of his own missing kid cases always struck a nerve with Danny. He really hoped this one had a happy ending. Not just because it was high profile but because no kid should be taken from their family.


The only warning Steve had was the creak of wood. The carpet that had once covered the floor had long since been ripped up in preps of repair that never came. The subfloor beneath was sound in most spots. However the farther up one went in the building the structure had been damaged throughout the years by wind and decay from the elements. Steve took a hesitant step forward and was rewarded by a deafening crack. Danny whipped around eyes wide.

"What the hell?"Williams asked.

"We need to…."Steve began before the floor beneath opened up and he plummeted down.

Steve heard his partner shout his name as he fell. Twenty feet down Steve found a handhold on a jagged pipe. The pipe sliced his hand but Steve held on. His body swayed widely as the former seal struggled to hold on. He prayed that the pipe was strong enough to support his weight since he wasn't close enough to the wall to get purchase there with his feet.

"Steve!"Danny's voice drifted down anxious and worried.

"You wouldn't happen to have a rope on you would you?"Steve called back.

"Left my boyscout pack at home."Williams quipped."You okay?"

"Yeah."Steve replied through gritted teeth. "Find something to pull me up. This floor's not going to hold much longer."

"On it."Danny responded.


Danny had seen his partner's precarious position as he'd searched anxiously with his flashlight. Now Danny was cautiously but hurriedly looking for anything that could be used to pull Steve to safety. As he looked he'd pulled out his phone to call HFD and Hpd for backup. Dispatch had promised HFD was six minutes out. Danny wasn't sure they had that long. Danny still wasn't sure how he hadn't tumbled in after Steve when the floor went. Pure dumb luck.

"Anything?"Steve asked.

"Not yet."Danny replied grimly. "HFD's on it's way; six minutes out."

The floor groaned ominously causing Danny to freeze momentarily before continuing his search. Down below debris rained around Steve.

"Danny you need to get out of here. "Steve advised.

"What kind of partner would I be if I did that?"Danny retorted.

Out of the corner of his eye Danny saw a flash of color. Looking closer he was relieved to see it was something that might help. A coil of orange extension cord left over from the failed rehab. Danny ran towards the coil of cord half buried against the right wall near the windows. He hefted it and saw it was undamanged and might just be long enough. Going back to the collapsed section of the floor Danny gingerly laid down on his stomach and began to feed the extension cord down to his partner. In the distance Danny could hear sirens he hoped it was their backup.

"Here, grab this!"Danny instructed.

He sat up enough to wrap the end of the cord around his waist and continued to lower the rest. Looking down he saw the other end was almost to his partner.

"See it, nice job."Steve said.

"Quicker you grab it the faster we can get out of here."Danny replied.


Steve made a first attempt to pull the cord closer but his bloodied right hand slipped and the cord swung away. When it came back within range Steve let go with both hands and leapt he caught the cord with his good hand and hung on. He slowly began to inch himself up. As he inched himself along the cord began to move upward as Danny pulled Steve to safety. Several long minutes later Danny gripped the back of Steve's shirt collar and hauled him up onto the broken floor. Both were short of breath.

"Thanks."Steve stated quietly as he sat up.

"What partners are for; come on let's go."Danny replied as the two ran for the door.

Almost as soon as they reached the hallway the rest of the floor collapsed sending up a shower of debris. Danny and Steve ran to the stairway and headed down. Once on street level they saw the fire department pulling up followed by Chin. Danny steered his partner towards an ambulance that had just arrived. Chin met them there.

"You guys okay?"Chin asked worriedly as he looked at Steve's bloodied right hand.

"Just another day at the office."Danny replied with a grim smile. "Any news on the search?"

"Just came over the radio."Chin replied with a smile. "Senator Wilson's son was found by an HPD officer a few blocks from here. Suspects are being rounded up now."

"Good."Steve interjected. "Happy ending all around."

"Going to need to take you in for stiches. Cut's too deep for anything I can do here."The young brown haired male paramedic stated.

"Get that taken care of."Danny instructed as he stepped back and the paramedic began to close the doors. "I'll start on the paperwork."

"Danny?"Steve called just as the doors closed.

"Yeah?"Danny replied.

"Paperwork can wait."McGarrett said with a smile. "Go home, grab a beer. You earned it."

"Think I will."Danny commented with a grin as the doors closed.

end