Note: apologies if the last chapter put you off yr dinners. I like to be as accurate as possible with my stories and that's how the sacrifice used to work. Yuck!

Time for the team to find Danny.

Chapter Seven

Steve stalked back to his truck, aggressively flung the door open, and sat down heavily in the driver's seat. He and the team had driven to North Shore to help with the search, but it had been slow going with properties spread out, and the dark making it harder to clear the area. They had just finished clearing another barn. Beyond frustrated, and desperate to find his partner, his best friend, Steve fisted the steering wheel, causing the horn to sound and alerting his distress to the rest of the team.

"Steve, maybe you should take a break. We've been at this all night. Why don't you go try and get a few hours sleep." Chin suggested.

"I'm fine. I'll sleep once we have Danny back."

"You're not fine, Steve." Kono looked at him, worry written all over her face.

"You're right, I'm not fine. Danny has been missing for over 36 hrs, going through God knows what. That's presuming our killer sticks to his usual MO and hasn't already killed him. We don't have anything to go on other than some damn soil samples." Steve replied angrily.

"It's light now, we can clear properties faster. We will find him, Steve. You've got to get your head back in the game man. When Ian Wright took Samantha I lost it, but Danny talked me down. Do you know what he said to me?" Lou said.

Steve looked up at Lou and shook his head. Danny was good at talking people down. Words were his thing. Where Steve was all action, Danny looked at the bigger picture.

"He told me about when Grace was taken, and how he had a choice. He could shut down and start mourning, or he could do anything, and everything, it took to get her back. He told me to put my feelings about Samantha on hold and focus on getting the son of a bitch, and he was right. Danny is strong, Steve. He can take whatever this sicko throws at him. So we need to stop worrying about what he is going through right now, and just focus on finding him."

Steve gave a small chuckle and ran his hand through his hair.

"Thanks, Lou, I needed that. Danny's right, nobody tell him I said that." Steve

added looking his team in the eye. "I need to focus. What's the next property on the list?"

Kono was about to respond when Steve's phone started to ring.

"It's Mamo." He informed them then hit the speaker so they all could hear what the man had to say.

"Mamo, thanks for getting back to me. I need your help man."

"No problem Steve, I just got back to the island. I saw the newspaper article about the serial killer, that's what you need my help on right?"

"Yeah, Mamo. Please tell me you know someone who fits the profile. I'm desperate man, he has Danny and we're running out of time to find him."

"My god Steve, I'm sorry. I don't know if I can be much help. A lot of the guys fit the description."

"This guy has his own Leiomano, a genuine one. That has to narrow the suspects down? Most of yours are replicas, right? He has a knuckleduster too with a Marlin bill. We also think he drives a dark blue truck."

"That sounds like it could be Lokepa Kahale. He has a genuine Leiomano. It has been passed down through his family for years. He brings it to our special meetings. He drives a blue truck. He's very big on Hawaiian history. He gets very angry when things aren't authentic."

"He sounds worth checking out." Steve replied. "Mamo, do you know where this guy lives?"

"He has a small standing at North Shore. Just south of Kahuka Point. He used to own land near Waialee but he was forced to sell it to some development company. Stark Holdings I believe."

"Our first victim worked for Stark Holdings." Kono gasped.

"That can't be a coincidence." Chin replied.

"Mamo, what do you mean he was forced to sell?" Steve probed.

"It was a court order. He was forced to sell his land even though he tried to fight it. The legal fees cost him most of what he got from selling the land. Now he's working on the pineapple plantations, when he can get work that is." Mamo explained.

"Victim two was a clerk for the courthouse." Kono stated. Suddenly everything was clicking into place. "And Ling Chow worked for an architect company, who wants to bet they are working on the development project?"

"His being forced to sell the family land was the trigger." Chin summarised. "He went after people who worked for the companies that ruined him. They weren't random attacks after all."

"This has to be our guy. Mamo, we've got to go. Mahalo, man, I owe you big time." Steve thanked his friend.

"Anytime, Steve, I hope you get Danny back unharmed. Aloha."

Steve hung up the phone and looked to his team.

"Kono get me an exact address for this guy. Let's get moving. We aren't too far from Kahuka Point."

With that all team members ran to their vehicles and sped away towards their new destination.

5-0-5-0-5-0-5-0

Danny was beyond exhausted. He had spent the whole night sawing at his bindings, and now his neck was so sore from the backward, forward motion. Several times he had come close to dropping the tooth, and once he had slice painfully into his tongue. Despite all the hard work he still hadn't managed to make it all the way through the rope. The sun was now up and the heat was quickly building again in the room. At least Danny thought it was it could also have been the fact that he was running a fever. The deep wounds that were inflicted the previous morning were red and angry looking.

Deciding his neck needed a break he attempted to strain against the rope, doing his best to ignore the pain in his ribs and shoulder. A few more strands snapped and Danny thought with a bit more force it would finally give way. Unfortunately he wasn't able to test that theory as he heard the bolt begin to slide back. Not wanting to lose his precious tool he made the split second decision to force the tooth back into his shoulder wound, gritting his teeth against the pain.

The Hawaiian flew into the room in a rage. He went straight to Danny and punched him in the face, splitting his lip wide open. Then he went to the table and picked up the Marlin bill knuckleduster.

"Morning to you too." Danny croaked then spat out the blood from his mouth.

"I've just been told there is no work for me today. You have angered the gods and they are punishing me. Lono wants his sacrifice sooner, so tonight you will die. At least having no work means I get to play before I start the ritual." The Hawaiian smiled and moved closer to Danny, who did his best to move away, feeling a few more strands of rope give way.

"Probably for the best anyway, you're not looking so hot Haole. That looks painful." He said trailing the spear over the shoulder wound.

"What this? I've had worse shaving." Danny replied stubbornly.

The Hawaiian got up in Danny's face, so close that Danny could smell his putrid breath. Then he forced the spear into the wound and through Danny's shoulder.

Danny sucked in a breath as he fought through the pain. He was too stubborn to give the man the satisfaction of seeing him break. This angered his captor further, and Danny didn't even see the next punch coming, but he did see the man ready the spear to use it again. Danny braced himself for the impact, but his eyes widened as the doors to the room slammed open, and to his relief his friends entered, guns drawn.

His captor recovered quickly from his initial shock and ducked below Danny's tethered arm. He brought the spear up against Danny's neck, using his would be sacrifice as a human shield. "Lono wants his sacrifice. You can't mess with the gods. I will kill him." He screamed to the new arrivals.

TBC