For a guy of his size, Sato was surprisingly fleet of foot. He darted past the back of the cathedral and headed into the still-light traffic on Bishop Street. Ironically enough, he was heading in the general direction of the Iolani Palace and a thought that he wouldn't have far to take Sato for questioning flitted through Danny's mind. "Stop! Police!" he shouted and thought how stupid that was. Sato knew who was chasing him!

The big man did not even look back. Danny pushed himself to run a bit faster. They couldn't afford to lose this guy. He was the next step up on the rung from Richards and might even be able to finger the boss man himself! It was imperative that he catch this guy – alive!

Ahead of him, Sato stumbled, catching himself before he fell, but the momentary clumsiness allowed Danny the change to lessen the gap between them. With one last surge of power, Danny leapt at the bigger man and tackled him around the knees, taking him to the ground.

Any hopes that Danny might have had that this manoeuvre might wind Sato were quashed instantly. Sato twisted his upper body around, rising off the ground to make a grab for the nearest part of Danny – his head. Danny frantically twisted away whilst trying to maintain his hold on Sato's legs. Neither of them was quite successful in their endeavours. Sato missed Danny's hair but caught hold of his shoulder and Danny's grip around Sato's legs slipped. Danny knew that any moment, he was going to find himself in a fight that would be decidedly in favour of the bigger, heavier guy.

With a mighty heave, Sato broke Danny's hold on his legs and almost ripped the shoulder out of Danny's jacket. The detective felt himself moving and took the initiative, bringing his right hand up in a hard rabbit punch to Sato's wrist. The blow landed dead on target, more from luck than judgement, Danny had to admit, but it had little discernible effect. Sato's grip barely wavered and Danny was still moving, being drawn closer to the big man's chest and a place where he would be in the most danger of receiving a real beating.

However, neither of them had counted Steve McGarrett into this mix. Steve raced around the corner and realised that Danny was in trouble. Without slowing his headlong pace, Steve drew his weapon and bellowed, "Five-O! Hold it right there!"

His warning had as little effect as Danny's had had, if you considered the required result being the suspect giving himself up to police custody and questioning. It did galvanise Sato, who yanked harder on Danny's jacket and managed to get himself into a sitting position with the smaller, slighter, detective clutched in front of him like a shield.

That was a move that was to the liking of neither Five-O man. Steve skidded to a halt, unable to take a shot without the very real risk of shooting his closest friend. Danny detested being used like that and vowed silently that he was not going to be a passive prisoner. To back up that vow, he immediately elbowed Sato hard in the stomach.

Clutching Danny with both hands, Sato had not had the chance to go for his weapon. He was taken by surprise when Danny elbowed him and his grip slackened. Danny used that second to twist free, throwing a punch into Sato's face. The bigger man was taken by surprise once again and when he looked up, he found himself staring into the guns of two very annoyed Five-O officers. Wisely, he slowly put up his hands. Steve nodded to Danny and Danny, obedient to the silent command, walked carefully around their prisoner and cuffed him.

Together, they hauled Sato to his feet and while Steve read him his rights, Danny frisked him and found he was carrying about $4000 in cash and several small packets of drugs that probably had a street value of more than Danny earned in a year. After showing them to Steve, Danny pocketed the haul and they started walking back to Steve's car.

"Are you all right, Danno?" Steve asked, looking sideways at his officer.

"Absolutely fine," Danny assured him. His pants had grass stains on the knees and the left shoulder of his suit jacket was crumpled and slightly dirty, but he was completely unhurt. He might be a little sore on the following day, but right now, he felt no pain. "Sorry I messed up back there."

"Well, I might argue with your style, but I can't say anything against your results," Steve replied, gesturing to Sato, who kept his face stony.

Surprised, Danny let out a short laugh. "I guess not," he agreed and they grinned at each other.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Rush hour was well under way as they drove the few blocks to the Palace. They would almost certainly have been faster to walk it, but if things went the way they wanted, they would need the car later in the day. McGarrett was positively buoyant. He sensed that they were making real progress in this case and Sato was a much bigger fish than Richards.

Back at the Palace, Steve took a tentative taste of the packets of drugs, identifying cocaine as well as heroin. They were rushed down to the lab for Che Fong to start working on. The drugs they had taken from Richards had been confirmed as the same basic components as the drugs found on the streets, but the arsenic was only a trace, not the bulk of the powder. Che was confident that it was produced in the same drugs factory, wherever that might be.

"You might as well talk," Steve advised Sato, who sat silently, not even volunteering his name. "We know who you are and you're going to go down regardless. Perhaps we might be able to make a deal if you help us out."

A dirty look was his only reply and Steve returned it with full force. His heart had almost stopped when Sato started using Danny as a shield; he had been unaware that Sato was unarmed. He was more than thankful that the suspect had not had the chance to grab Danny's gun. "Check him for signs of use," Steve ordered Danny.

There were no needle marks on Sato's arms, behind his knees or even between his toes. A blood test was ordered and the sample obtained taken down to the lab to be analysed. During the whole thing, Sato kept silent. Steve found his silence frustrating. Why couldn't Sato see that he was cornered? He was going to go down for selling illegal drugs and with the quantity he had had on his person, he wasn't going to get a piddling couple of years.

Leaving Sato to stew for a while, Steve retreated to his office to check the overnight reports from HPD, hoping against hope that there wouldn't be another drug related death. It was, to his dismay, the first thing he saw on the reports. A young girl, no more than 21, had been found on the street. Despite getting her to hospital as fast as they could, she had died shortly after being admitted. Steve quelled the impulse to call Bergman. He knew the coroner would get the autopsy results to him as soon as he could.

Galvanised by the news, Steve returned to the interrogation room. Danny was leaning against the wall, watching Sato closely. Their suspect was leaning back in his chair, his eyes closed, giving the impression that he was dozing. Anger flared through Steve. Who did this guy think he was? Taking two quick steps, Steve slammed his hand down on the table just inches from the suspect, who jumped in a most satisfactory manner.

"The charges against you have just increased to murder one," Steve told him venomously. "A girl you sold drugs to died last night. I know that the drugs we're going to find in her system match the drugs we took from you this morning. That means you sold them to her and you're going down for murder one." Straightening from his position right in the suspect's face, Steve glanced at Danny. "Book him for murder one as well, Danno," he ordered. "And get this scum out of my sight. He's going away for good."

Although Danny knew that getting murder one for this crime would be difficult at best, he didn't let any doubts show on his face. However, it seemed that Sato did not know this. He paled and as Danny jerked him to his feet, he let out a sound that could only be categorised as a squeak. "You can't do that," he blustered, sounding completely terrified.

"No?" Steve drawled contemptuously. "Just watch me." He jerked his head and Danny took the hint, grasping Sato's arm firmly just above the elbow.

"No! Please!" Sato begged and Steve felt a thrill of revulsion at the suspect's obvious fear, even while he exulted that he might be going to achieve his objective. "I'll tell you everything I know."

"Everything?" Steve asked, pushing all his loathing for this low-life into his tone.

"Everything," Sato assured him, abject fear evident in his voice.

For a long moment, Steve paused, eyeing the distressed man in front of him. Warning flags rose in his mind. Sato was giving in too easily. Was this confession genuine, or was there more to this than met the eye? There was only one way to find out and Steve could not afford to brush off what he was about to be told, but he would be double and triple checking any information this man gave them. "All right," he allowed and Sato sighed in relief.