Wrong Place, Very Wrong Time IV

Disclaimer: I do not own Hawaii 5-0. Writing is the only way to get through the summer until new episodes appear in the fall.

Thank you for all the kind reviews, they make my day. Shall we see how Danny is doing?

Chapter 4

Slowly, Danny Williams regained consciousness, waves of pain wracking his body. His head pounded like an off-beat bell and his shoulder muscles burned from his arms being held behind him, his wrists restrained. When he tried to open his eyes he discovered it was impossible, there was something tied around his head. With a low growl of frustration and in spite of the pain the motion inflicted, Danny rubbed his head against the ground to dislodge the blindfold. It didn't move and he finally stopped as the throbbing of his aching head threatened to send him back into oblivion. He knew he had to stay awake if he was going to get out of this mess.

As he turned his attention back to his wrists that were secured behind him, Danny could feel the metal dig into his flesh and concluded that his own cuffs had been used to hold him. As he stretched his legs he made another discovery…his ankles had been tied together also. Try as he might Danny couldn't free his legs and the effort to get his fingers near the knots on the ropes exhausted him and did nothing to make his head feel better. He lay still, feeling like a fool for not seeing the second kid come charging at him until it was too late. He had fallen for one of the oldest tricks in the book and now he was in a mess he might not be able to get himself out of. Damn…McGarrett would never let him live this down.

"Why would a traffic ticket make them attack me?" Danny wondered out loud. "What on earth could two kids be up to that would drive them to kidnap me?"

His question was greeted by silence and he lay on the uncomfortable ground and began to seriously worry. He had no idea what time of day it was or how long he had been unconscious and that reminded him that he was due to pick Grace up after school. It could all ready be too late and his concern for his daughter began to supersede his concern for himself. He desperately hoped that she followed his instructions on what to do if he ever failed to show up when she expected him. Again he fought his bindings in an attempt to get free but failed as his wrists began to feel sticky with blood. He lay on the ground panting from the exertion and thought about his daughter. If Grace did as she had been told, she would have called Steve and his partner would know he was missing, if Steve hadn't all ready noticed that Danny had not shown up with the witness statement.

For once Danny was grateful he was partnered with a gung-ho military Neanderthal who did not waste time when one of his team was missing. And if Steve became worried then the whole team would be on alert and come looking for him. Danny could only hope that he had left behind enough clues for them to know how to find him.

*H 5-0*

Steve and Chin crouched over the tire tracks on the road's shoulder and then shared a worried look. Steve had all ready found evidence of another car that had parked a few yards away but the ground had been harder over there and tracks weren't clear. These tire markings were in softer soil and didn't look like the Camaro's print, they were wider than standard tires.

"So all we can be sure of is that two cars were here and one spun out, ending up in this ditch. After that it drove out of here in a hurry from the spray of dirt," Steve said in frustration.

"That would fit if Danny pursued someone here and confronted the driver," Chin stated. He stood and backed up a few steps to get a wider perspective of the scene. "He could have approached the car and ran into trouble. The car raced out of here with Danny after the confrontation. What the heck could he have stumbled onto? This area is rather open for Danny to have been ambushed by a third party."

"Unless Danny was surprised by a passenger in the car or from behind," Steve suggested. "There had to be more than one person, one to drive the Camaro and the other to drive this car. I don't believe that the person who dumped the Camaro walked out of that place." As he stood up, he glanced up and down the road as several cars cruised past. "There has to be some witnesses to this incident, there are too many cars that travel this road. And whoever did this had to know Danny was a cop which means they are desperate to take him and hide the car."

"We will get CSU to try and get tire prints of both cars. This may not even involve Danny, we could be wrong about this," Chin said although he knew in his gut that this was most likely where Danny had been taken. "I'll stay here and wait for them, you go on to the witness that Danny interviewed and see if he can shed some light on this."

"Sounds good," Steve agreed. "We'll cover all the angles." He was happy to have some positive action to take and standing around watching the CSU do their thing would drive him crazy. He hurried over to his truck and headed up the highway towards Kawela.

As McGarrett drove, he tried putting the puzzled pieces together in this strange case. He felt the pressure of solving this for his partner and reuniting Danny with his daughter, knowing he couldn't face Gracie if he didn't bring Danny home safe. By the time he arrived at the witness' address in Kawela, Steve's mood was bordering on ugly. He exited his truck and stalked up to the small house to bang on the door impatiently. Five minutes of pounding produced no response from inside but did bring the next door neighbor to her door, peering out at Steve cautiously.

"If you are looking for Mr. Ano, he packed up his truck and high-tailed it out of here just after that short guy in the black car left," the older woman announced, sticking her head out of the door.

"Did Mr. Ano say where he was going?" Steve asked heading over towards her.

"Who are you?" the woman questioned, gripping the edge of her door as if it could shield her from McGarrett.

"I'm Commander Steve McGarrett of 5-0 ma'am," Steve said touching the badge at his waist. "My partner, Danny Williams was the man in the black car. He was here to take a witness statement from Mr. Ano."

The woman looked intently at Steve's badge and then smiled, emerging from the house.

"Well Commander…I wish I could tell you where Mr. Ano went but he wasn't big on talking much. He's a bit of a recluse and I only know he likes to surf a lot but doesn't have many friends that stop by," she told him.

"Thank you…Ms…" Steve began.

"Mrs. Luana Keawe," the woman beamed. "And I must say Commander that it's nice to see the Governor is hiring such polite, handsome men. I wish I could help you more but I just don't know where he went."

Steve gave the woman a warm smile.

"I understand and appreciate what you have been able to tell me. Could you say if Mr. Ano was upset with my partner? Did he perhaps chase after Det. Williams?" he asked curiously. "My partner has been missing since speaking with Mr. Ano."

"Oh I don't think that he chased after your partner. Mr. Ano walked the man to his car and shook his hand before your partner drove away. He did not appear angry with him," Mrs. Keawe told him.

"Thank you ma'am, you have been a great help," Steve replied. He turned back to his truck but stopped short as the woman spoke again.

"Mr. Ano might not have been very social but he also didn't bring any trouble to the neighborhood. I don't think he did anything wrong," she said quickly.

"I understand Mrs. Keawe, Mr. Ano is only a witness to an incident that we are investigating. I was only hoping to ask him if he knew where my partner might have been headed."

"I'll call 5-0 if Mr. Ano returns. It's not easy to find quiet neighbors in this day and age. I don't want to have someone new move in and disrupt things," she huffed indignantly.

"I am sure he will be back. Thank you again for your help," Steve said quickly, anxious to move on. "We would be happy to know if Mr. Ano returns."

The woman's face broke into a big smile.

"I am always willing to help. I hope you find your partner, young man. Good luck," she said and went back into her house. Steve quickly hurried to the Silverado and drove off.

As he arrived at the curve where Chin was over-seeing the CSU group that was trying to get tire tracks, Kelly saw his truck and waved him over. Steve parked on the side and approached Chin.

"Find anything?" Steve enquired.

"Danny was here," Chin said holding up Danny's badge in an evidence bag. "We found it half buried in the dirt near the car tracks from the ditch. It must have come loose in a scuffle."

"So we were right," Steve said, the knot in his stomach tightening. "Any sign of blood?"

"No, no blood. They are getting casts of the other car but not having any luck confirming it is the Camaro from where it was parked. However the badge is confirmation enough. Why don't you see what Kono has found out, I will finish this here." Chin suggested.

"I will," Steve said and returned to the truck.

This time he drove to the turn off to the service road, parked and walked in to where the Camaro had been abandoned. Kono was watching the remaining CSU crew finish processing the car.

"Hey Boss, we're almost done. Guess what we've found?" Kono said sarcastically.

"No useable prints," Steve said quickly, noting her sour expression.

"Right, CSU believes the perp used Grace's scarf to wipe the car. Some fibers were caught in the gear shift," Kono nodded.

"Clever," Steve growled in anger. "We really need a break on this; it feels like we are running into one brick wall after another."

"The witness that Danny interviewed wasn't any help?" Kono asked.

"Mr. Ano has gone on the run. His very sweet and helpful neighbor told me that Danny and Ano parted on friendly terms and then Ano packed his truck and disappeared. I'm guessing our witness is afraid that the shooter will come looking for him. We'll have to go over that statement carefully," Steve informed her. "And if he didn't tell you….Chin found Danny's badge along Highway 83 where we found tire tracks and skid marks."

"I heard," she answered. "One of the techs is driving the Camaro back to headquarters, so if we head back now we can check out this statement more closely. Maybe we'll have some responses to Chin's request for witnesses out on the road," Kono suggested.

"Good idea," Steve agreed. "I'm worried Kono, Danny may all ready be in too deep, we don't have time to waste."

"We'll get some answers Boss. Danny doesn't do anything quietly, there has to be a witness out there," Kono told him.

End chapter.

Thank you for reading.