The shadows had gotten longer and the temperature on this extraordinarily hot day had eased when the task force pulled up outside the large ramshackle building. Chin and Steve had arrived seconds before Lou and Kono.

There was only one other car parked outside, which seemed plausible because it appeared the lower-income quadplex was not at full occupancy. The vertical sliding windows on two of the units were open with sheer curtains blowing to the outside in the wind. An air-conditioning window unit was buzzing in a lower window with the upper portion of that half of window blocked with plywood. The other unit's window was shut up tight. The dark red siding was in disrepair and the aged metal screen door on the main entry door was hanging partially open on its hinges.

Chin was running point on the operation and directed Kono and Lou to the rear of the small apartment building. He and Steve would take the front. Even though his personality had made him disinclined to do so, Steve had willingly relinquished the lead position to Chin for the safety of his team due to his more vulnerable physical state. Like the others, Steve was geared up with tactical vest and safety equipment and held his SIG in his dominant right hand, even though his arm was still in a cast. He had, however, abandoned the sling temporarily to give him a modicum more flexibility. Even with the limitation, he still felt comfortable and confident with the handgun.

Behind the screened door, the heavy wooden front door was closed but unlocked and they easily entered. The back door was also open and accessible. Lou remained outside to prevent an attempted escape. Kono entered and saw Chin motioning for her to check the units upstairs. By default, he and Steve would check the ones downstairs.

Their vigilance… and hope… quickly faded as it became clear any potential threat, as well the presence of their missing family members, was nonexistent. As suspected, only three of the four apartment units were currently occupied. A single mother and her two children were at home in one of the upstairs units. The other upstairs unit and one downstairs were locked.

An elderly woman living in one of the downstairs apartments answered the knock on her door. Chin and Steve found out that she acted as pseudo superintendent of the building. It was evident she could not act in the full capacity of the title. With her age and frail form, she would only be able to be the eyes and ears for the landlord and possibly handle light tasks such as showings for potential renters, maintaining extra keys, and passing on complaints.

With her assistance, they were able to enter, and had found one unit completely vacated, with no belongings or furnishings or anything to indicate that anyone had even been there in a number of days, weeks, or possibly months. The other had a tenant that was not present at the time, but access inside found mail and photos that verified the information the woman had supplied; the tenant's identity was that of a younger Hawaiian man, not the man they were looking for.

They were able to determine the empty unit had last been rented by a haole about the age of Killian. Upon showing an image of the man to the woman, she was able to confirm it had been him that had occupied the place but had vacated it maybe three or four weeks before. Feeling dispirited over the failure, the four gathered outside to reevaluate their next move.

"Now what, boss?" Kono asked what they were all thinking.

Steve lifted his head and expelled a cleansing breath of air. "I don't know." The answer was more of a mumble. Normally he had the answers, the next plan of action, the next strategy, the next maneuver. However, normally, he had Danny there to center him, to feed off, to argue with… to not have to worry about. His thought processes were hindered and that annoyed him.

~~~~~H50~~~~~

"Danno?"

"Grace." Danny raised his head at the sound. He wondered if he heard her voice calling to him. "Baby, where are you? Are you okay? Grace?"

The vast open room was dark now. The sun must have set because the translucent ceiling panels that let sunlight in during the day, glowed a midnight blue color only letting in enough light to see forms and shadows. Danny put his hands on the step he was sitting on to boost himself up. His right hand touched a long, cold, cylinder-shaped object. He picked it up and discovered, more from feeling than from seeing, it was a flashlight. He stood up with the new tool and potential weapon in his hand and slid the switch on the side of the light. Somewhat to his surprise, the thing actually came on. Now he had both a literal and figurative ray of light to motivate and lead the way.

He walked in the direction he thought he had heard his daughter's voice. He felt he had gone about two thirds of the length of the building when he heard, "Danno! Help me."

It was her. He hadn't been imagining it. "Grace, I'm coming, baby. Where are you?" Danny had been going in the correct, general direction but had to adjust course to his right a bit more.

His beam of light, shining onto the floor, fell on a long narrow impression up ahead. He surmised it was an inspection pit of some sort, much like they have in auto repair shops. He hadn't seen it before and wondered if those were also used for aircraft repair.

Danny sped up his steps as he neared the pit. When he reached it, he shined his light into the void. Lying at the bottom was the form of a girl Grace's size, wearing the same clothes Grace had been wearing, but it couldn't be Grace. He had just heard her calling to him.

The girl had her right arm draped over her stomach and her left arm was lying limply out to her side. The girl's identity was concealed by a mask she was wearing. Danny held onto the ladder attached to the side of the pit and jumped in. He approached the unmoving figure and bent down beside her. In perceived slow motion, he reached for the obnoxious, mocking mask and slowly pulled it up and off the girl's face. He fell backwards with a start, having to put his hand behind him to catch himself before falling on his backside. He scrambled backwards in shock but was stopped by the wall of the narrow pit. Not yet regaining his footing, he shifted forward onto his knees.

"Grace!"

It was his daughter, lying in the bottom of this concrete trough… lifeless. He jumped into action. He flung the grinning mask that he still held in his hand away from them and grabbed Grace into his arms. "Grace. Monkey. Come on, talk to me. I'm here. Your Danno's here now. I can take you home. Wake up, Grace. Grace! Wake up!" He partially relinquished his hold on her to free one of his hands and gently placed his fingers on the cold, soft skin on her neck. He felt nothing, so he closed his eyes to heighten his sense of touch and dampen all the other senses. Still nothing.

Before he could react, he felt a cold liquid licking at his firmly planted knees as he held his daughter on his lap. He briefly glanced to his right to see a dark algae-covered liquid ebbing toward him. Then, almost simultaneously, he heard laughter coming from above him. He looked up to see Hollis Killian standing on the hangar floor above them looking down on him and his daughter. He held the mask that Danny had just tossed away and laughed at him and his despair and anguish.

Danny looked down onto the shadowed face of his daughter and tears began to well. "Grace. Grace!" Without caring about his audience, he shouted his daughter's name in desperation… …

"Danno! Danno, it's me. I'm right here. Wake up!"

"Grace?"

"Yes, it's me."

Danny weakly forced his eyes open.

Grace was still trying to be strong for her dad, but one tear of relief escaped and fell down her cheek. "Are you okay?"

Danny opened his eyes wider. He, too, felt a flood of relief wash over him at the sight of his daughter sitting in front of him. He realized he must have been dreaming… enduring a nightmare, more accurately. But he needed to make sure he was really awake this time, that Grace was truly alive and not a cruel apparition. "Gra…" His dry mouth halted his attempt at talking. He had to swallow and try again. "Grace?"

"Yes, Dad, I'm here."

Danny closed his eyes, dropped his chin, and choked back a sob. That didn't last, though, as he needed to see his baby girl again, to see she was alright and there in front of him and talking to him. She wasn't close enough to touch though. He wasn't able to reach out his arms and enfold her in a hug that he craved. His awareness began to sharpen as the haziness faded, so that he was able make sense of his circumstances.

He was sitting upright on the floor of the hangar he had entered earlier. He had no idea how long ago that had been, but the light had definitely faded, not as much as in his nightmare, but it was obviously later. His back was against the wall of the raised walkway on the inside of the building. His hands were restrained above and behind his head, secured around one of the vertical posts of the metal handrail. He tested the hold. It was tight.

As his recollection of the events earlier in the day came back to him, his heart rate increased and he looked around for the author of this fiasco and eminent threat, Killian. Seeing as they appeared to be alone, his attention turned back to Grace. She was sitting across from him in a chair. Her arms were pulled behind her back. She could not get to him either.

"Monkey, you okay?"

She simply nodded. If she tried to say anything right now, she might start bawling, so she held back to compose herself first. Even with her father there with her, she had felt alone while he had been unconscious. Now that he was awake, she had to readjust her state of mind.

"He didn't hurt you, did he?"

Again, just a shake of the head.

"'kay." More relief overtook Danny as he continued to let his reassurances sink in. After a few more moments he asked, "Is he here?"

Another small shake of the head followed but she had calmed herself to add, "After he brought me out here, he left. I don't know where he went or when he'll be back. Are you okay? What did he do to you?"

"I'm fine." This isn't good. I'm turning into Steve. He ignored the dull throb in his head. His mental respite was brief as he stuck with his fib. "He didn't do anything."

"You're bleeding… your head."

"I'm okay, just a little bump." He tried to change the subject slightly. "I think he put something in the water he gave me. Just feeling a little groggy."

"Who is he, Danno? What does he want? What's he going to do with us and Uncle Steve?" Her questions started to pour out uninhibitedly.

"Uncle Steve? Wait… Grace, what are you talking about?" A sharp pang of foreboding hit him square on. He wondered what he had missed while being out of it. He recalled Killian's words on the phone, 'Just you for now'. Had Steve somehow been brought into this, too?

"Who is he? What does he want with us?"

"You said 'Uncle Steve'. What are you talking about?"

"He's got Uncle Steve too. I haven't seen him, though. I don't know where he is… or if… he's okay."

"Where is this coming from? Is that what he told you?"

"Mm…hm. He said he would hurt Uncle Steve if I didn't come with him. He showed me a picture on his phone. It looked like he was hurt… or worse." She couldn't bring herself to say what she was thinking.

Putting together the timing of events, Danny breathed out a sigh of relief and grinned. "No, baby, it's okay. Your Uncle Steve is okay… and he's going to find us."

"What?" Grace began to cry in earnest now. "But I saw the picture. You're sure?"

"Baby, the man that took you is one of the bad guys that Steve and I were trying to hunt down. His name is Hollis Killian. He's done some bad stuff, including hurting Uncle Steve. You know his messed up arm?"

She nodded and sniffed.

"That was him. He must have taken that picture the night he hurt Steve and used it to make you think he had him now, but he doesn't. Uncle Steve's fine. He'll probably be busting through that door Rambo-style anytime now. Don't worry."

"Rambo?"

"Yeah, you know the... never mind."

She tentatively offered a smile as her acceptance of her father's words. Her lowered anxiety level, however, reignited at hearing a sound coming from the door. She and her dad both turned their heads in unison to see who was entering.

~to be continued~

\,,,/BronsonL