Slowing as they neared the edge of the clearing around the cabin, the ranger paused as a dark shape, half-hidden beneath the ferns, caught his attention. Holding up his hand in a silent order to stop, he turned and took a couple of steps towards it, his heart sinking as he neared and recognized the unmistakable shape of a body. Looking back towards the S.B.P.D Homicide captain, he whispered, "We've got another body over here."

Quickly brushing past Crockett, Tom joined the ranger before dropping carefully to his knees and pushing the ferns apart. He was unable to stop himself from moaning in grief as he found himself staring down at one of his missing detectives. The slashed throat, the eyes wide in pain and surprise, and the blood that had pooled around and beneath Jim's body told Tom instantly just how Jim had met his death.

"Is he one of yours?" The ranger asked softly.

Tom could only nod, not quite trusting his voice to speak as Crockett knelt beside him, squeezing his shoulder in an unspoken show of grief and support, before reaching across and gently closing Jim's eyes. He waited a moment for the S.B.P.D captain to regain his composure before he asked, "Are you okay to go with this?"

Looking up into Crockett's compassionate and understanding face, Tom nodded and softly cleared his throat before answering. "Yeah, I want to get these bastards."

Giving the shoulder beneath his hand another light squeeze, the L.A homicide lieutenant murmured enough for just Tom to hear, "Good man." before he lightly touched the body and announced, "The body is still warm, so your man wasn't killed too long ago."

Forcing himself to push his grief and guilt aside, Tom nodded, "That would make his time of death around the same time that we heard that first shot." Frowning as he studied his detective's body in the barely discernable light before quickly around the area surrounding the body, he murmured, "He's missing his weapon."

"Probably taken by one of his killers." Crockett suggested as he studied the body and the surrounding area in the dim light as he added, "Slashed throat, I would say the killer probably snuck up behind him and took him by surprise. Didn't want to warn anyone with him that they were here."

Tom nodded in agreement, "Makes sense except for the gunshot we heard-"

"Maybe your man managed to get off a shot before he died," Crockett said softly as he looked past the body towards the outline of the cabin in the clearing that he could see through the trees.

"And if he did, maybe we have a hostage situation going on in that cabin," Tom breathed as he rose to his knees and peered back at the dark cabin and the smoke that was drifting out of the small chimney.

The ranger frowned as he listened to the two homicide officers before he nodded towards the cabin, "Whoever is in there has deliberately blocked out the two front windows."

"Probably to stop anyone from seeing anything happening inside." Crocket frowned as he turned and looked at Hynes and said softly, "So, how do you want to handle this. We know these guys are nuts and willing to kill just for the fun of it. And we know that they have potentially six hostages in there, including your other detective. We have already heard at least three gunshots..."

The S.B.P.D captain's eyes opened wide. "Do you think they may be killing the hostages?"

"I think we have to consider that possibility. We both know guys as crazy as these two never leave anyone alive." Crockett answered quietly before nodding down at Jim's body, " And they now know that we are on to their little hunting game."

Turning to the ranger, Hynes asked, "Is there any back door or any other way into that cabin?"

The ranger shook his head, "No, the only way in or out is through that front door or those two windows."

Tom turned and peered at the dark cabin through the forest undergrowth before he looked back at Crockett and sighed, "I guess we don't have any other choice if we want to get those hostages out alive."

"I wish I could say we could try and talk to them but…"

Hynes nodded silently agreeing with Crockett's assessment that the chances of trying to open up or carry out any negotiations with these two killers would probably result in the death of their hostages as he glanced back down at Jim's body before he looked back up at his men and ordered, "I want you all to spread out, two of you cover the back, and two of you to cover the windows. We'll take the front door. And whatever you do, I want you to stay low and stay out of sight. We don't want anyone getting spotted by anyone in that cabin and no one moves in until I say so, understand?"

The other four officers nodded and began to move through the underbrush into position as the ranger frowned and looked at Hynes, asking. "What do you want me to do?"

"Stay here!" Tom ordered sharply, before lowering his voice and adding gently, "I can't risk you getting hurt, 'cause I'm going to need you later to get us the Hell out of here!"

Unhappy with the homicide detective's order, the ranger nodded as he watched Hynes nod at Crockett before they began to creep towards the cabin, staying low as they followed one of the other S.B.P.D officers across to the safety of the shadows against the side of the cabin before they stepped up onto the side of the landing and began to creep against the cabin wall towards the door.

E!E!E!E!E!E!

With his ears still ringing from the first gunshot so close to his ear, Lee grabbed the barrel of his gun that Cedric was now pushing painfully down against his chest. He could feel the three firemen desperate struggle somewhere above him, trying to pull the hunter not only away from him, but also the gun. He instinctively held his breath as he felt one of Cedric's fingers tighten around the trigger he still held trapped on the trigger, aware that the chances were that he was about to die and he had no doubt that if he were killed, the insane man would then slaughter the five firemen without a single drop of remorse. Gritting his teeth, he managed to get his hand beneath the barrel, and with what he would later think of was a spurt of superhuman strength that he did not even know he possessed, he managed to push the barrel upwards just as Cedric's finger squeezed his finger that was trapped on the trigger and the gun discharged.

He felt a heavyweight collapse on him, robbing him of the ability to breath and he waited for the initial shock to fade and the burning agony of the bullet that he was certain should have ripped through his chest to begin. He was shocked instead to feel the hunter's weight roll off him and land on the floor beside him with a dull thump and he found himself staring up at one of the firemen's worried faces.

"Are you hit? Are you okay?" Mike asked as he quickly began to search Lee's bloodied chest, searching for a bullet wound as Marco quickly placed his fingers on the side of Cedric's throat and felt for a pulse.

Drawing a deep, shuddering breath, Lee nodded his head as he tried to slow down his racing heart before he slowly lifted his head and looked down at his wet, blood-stained shirt. "Yeah, I'm-I'm fine. it's not my blood, it's him," he managed to whisper as he heard Cap call out, "Mike…Chet…Marco?"

"We're okay, Cap." Chet answered, quickly reassuring his worried captain as Cap rose to his feet and began to take an unsteady step in their direction.

Allowing his hand that still gripped the barrel of his gun to slide harmlessly to the ground. Lee allowed his head to rest on the ground for another minute or two, waiting for the adrenalin coursing through his body to abate a little more before he sat up a little and turned to look at Cedric who was lying, motionless beside him. "How is he?"

"He's dead!" Marco answered.

Lee released a guilty sigh of relief as he looked down at the killer, the bloody gunshot wound and open, sightless eyes instantly confirmed what Marco had just told him and he knew that he had just gotten lucky. He should have handcuffed the killer to the chair as soon as they had brought him into the cabin, instead, he had decided because of the Hunter's painful and usually crippling injury because of shock and the fact that the killer had duped him with a false sense of compliance, that the threat of a weapon, cocked and ready to use if needed, would be enough. His total mismanagement of the dangerous situation had almost got them all killed, just as it had most likely have gotten Jim killed less than an hour before. He nodded slowly and allowed Chet and Mike to help him up onto his feet before he turned to look across at Johnny lying back down on the bed. "How's Gage?" He asked softly, looking up at Chet as he reached down and picked up the rifle, flicking the safety on before slinging it carefully over his shoulder.

Looking across at Johnny, Chet shook his head. "Not so good," he answered, his brow creasing with worry, "Johnny told me that when he started to warm up, that he would start bleeding more. He's starting to warm up and he's starting to bleed more than I thought he was going to. He's… he's starting to lose a lot of blood…"

Chet stopped and turned towards the shattered window as he heard the distinct sounds of soft footsteps on the small landing outside.

Lifting his finger to his lips to remain silent, Lee slipped the rifle off his shoulder, flicking the safety off. Whispering to Marco, Chet, Mike, and Cap to get down and stay down and stay behind him as they heard the footsteps approach the door, he took a small step forward and raised his gun, aiming it at the door.