Disclaimer – still don't own Hawaii Five -0. Just toying with their lives for a while. And my lawyer and psychiatrist both agree that I still don't own Steve. Dammit.

A/N - thank you all so much for the reviews and favorite story alerts. I sincerely appreciate your comments and am so glad you are all enjoying the story! I'm having a blast writing it!

Steve's brows furrowed in confusion as his eyes met Jennifer's. "J…Joe did this to you?" he stuttered.

The agent tried once again to sit up, this time Jennifer was too dumbstruck to stop him. "Yeah," he answered, pressing the towel she had been cleaning his head wound with to his temple. "He went into the bathroom, came out, said he was sorry and hit me with the butt of his gun."

"Sorry for what?" Steve asked incredulously.

"Gee, McGarrett, I didn't get a chance to ask before he knocked my ass unconscious," Aiden replied sarcastically.

"Well forgive me for not being worried about your ass when my mother is missing," Steve countered angrily.

"Speaking of asses…"

"Stop!" Jennifer yelled, finding her voice finally. She leapt to her feet and began to pace the room. She ran one hand through her auburn locks while the other pressed against her stomach. "This makes no sense. There is no way Joe is involved."

"Jennifer, he knocked me out," Aiden began emphatically, slowly getting up. "He took advantage of the fact that we split up…"

"No," Steve argued. "Joe has been alone with my mom before. Jennifer's right, doesn't make any sense."

Aiden laughed bitterly and threw his arms open. "Does shit like this normally make sense?" he answered. "We have to assume that Joe is delivering Shelburne to Wo Fat."

Jennifer shook her head and turned from them, yanking her cell out of her pocket and dialing.

"No, we do not have to assume that, Frye!" Steve yelled. "Maybe Joe is protecting my mother and knew you were working for Wo Fat."

The agent glared at Steve. "Why would I be working for Wo Fat?"

"Why would Joe?" Steve shot back. He turned to Jennifer, who still had the phone pressed against her ear. He didn't need to ask who she was calling. "Anything?"

She shook her head. "No," she replied, her tone flat and barely above a whisper. He swallowed hard and fought the wave of nausea rising in his throat.

"Okay, they couldn't have gotten off this island without somebody knowing," Steve said. He turned to Aiden, giving the agent a cursory once-over. "You good to go?"

"I'll be fine, just need a weapon," Frye responded.

"No," Steve answered shortly, making a beeline toward the main door of the quarters.

Aiden's eyes went wide at the Commander's dismissal of his request. "No?" he demanded, turning to Jennifer for support.

"Steve," she began before he almost immediately cut her off. "No, Jenn. I trust me, I trust you. I don't trust him. Joe may have hit him because Aiden's the mole. Joe may have hit him because HE is the mole. Joe may not have hit him at all. I'm not putting a gun in his hands until I'm sure."

"Okay," Jennifer replied with a shrug.

"Okay?" Aiden repeated, his eyes wild with anger. "Why am I not surprised you would immediately agree with him?"

"You most likely have a concussion, Aiden," she fired back. "You need to be cleared by a doctor. That's standard protocol."

"Standard protocol is a crap answer in this situation and you know it," Aiden replied with a sneer.

She glared at him and barely nodded her head. "Or you can just stay here," she said, sidling up to Steve, who was already in the hallway, scowling at Aiden with his fists on his hips. "We've got Shelburne to find."

Steve was too angry and too confused by this most recent turn of events to allow his "victory" to be displayed on his face – as much as he'd love nothing more to slug the smug agent, finding his mother and Joe took precedence. He took off down the hall with Jennifer close behind. He didn't bother to look back to see if Aiden Frye was following them.

Outside the barracks, he flagged down a Jeep – pleased to find it was the same MPs who had met them at the air park. "Commander, is there a problem?" the Sergeant asked.

"Yeah," Steve affirmed with a nod, "Commander White and his female companion are missing and the CIA Agent with them was knocked unconscious in the barracks."

The younger MP laughed. "This island is barely 13 square miles. They couldn't have gone far."

Jennifer glowered at the Airman. "My father is a retired Navy SEAL who had hundreds of highly classified missions under his belt before you were even born. Trust me when I tell you he could be in Australia by now."

"Yes, Ma'am," he replied looking properly chastised.

"Hop in," the Sergeant said. "We gotta get back to the airfield."

Steve and Jennifer piled into the Jeep before the Sergeant peeled away in the direction of the runway. He threw the vehicle in neutral just outside the door to the radar tower and stepped on the parking brake. The Sergeant tore the door open and the three began taking the stairs to the top two at a time.

"Airman Davis," he yelled at the young officer manning the tower; then pointed behind him. "Lt. Commander McGarrett, Agent White. Have any aircraft left since their plane landed?"

"No, sir," the Airman answered as he sprang from his chair. "Two flights left earlier though - one 15 minutes before Agent White landed and one two hours before."

"The one 15 minutes before, where is it headed?" Steve demanded.

"Uhhhhh…" He stalled, flipping through a stack of recent flight manifests, "Pearl."

Steve looked at Jennifer. "That's gotta be it."

She nodded. "We need to get to Hawaii."

"I can wake a pilot and have you in the air within an hour," Davis offered.

"Good man," Steve replied, clapping the young serviceman on the back. "Sarge, we need to go back to the barracks and get the other agent."

"Let's roll," the Sergeant replied with a wave of his hand.

The three descended the stairs and the metal door clattered as it hit the concrete tower behind it. The Sergeant had opened the door and allowed Jennifer and Steve to go through first. What they found just outside the door rocked them to the core. The young MP, his body prone, eyes wide open, a bullet hole in his forehead.

"Steve," Jennifer gasped.

He went to reach for her - to angle her body behind his but found himself grasping at air. Aiden Frye had grabbed Jennifer and had the MP's service weapon pressed against her temple.

TBC…