Chapter 3

Kalani found herself in dense foliage. She quickly found mud, tar, dirt, clay and made quick work to camouflage her skin from head to tow to match the foliage. She collected twigs, branches and leaves to make camouflage attire.

Then she started building a lean-to for shelter and gathered rocks and wood to start a fire. Once shelter and heat were taken care of, Kalani went to work make booby traps around her base camp for primitive areal protection. Then she went to work whittling a long stick into a spear for a weapon.

She may not get a good night's sleep but she very much became very familiar with her surroundings. With her rudimentary weapon she ducked under her lean-to and waited for the sunrise. It was going to be a long night.

"Why do you have to be the best at everything?" Damon asked in an aggravated groan.

The two ten year old children had just finished an exerting field trial. Kalani just rolled her eyes. She understood his agitation but unfortunately she herself was training for her next Hop On a Patrol or HOP as her superiors called it. None of the campers knew she was an actual Sea Air and Land (SEAL) officer. No one could know except her Dad and Aunt Kono.

"I plan on being the first Female SEAL in my family. Females have it harder then you males. I have to work twice as hard as you and be twice as better then you to even be treated as an equal. That means I have to start now," Kalani explained. It took all her willpower not to sound condescending so she just stated the facts.

Damon nodded understanding the double standard. It was a sexist system their military had. He admired her determination. "Why do I have a feeling you're not telling me something."

The two had known each other all their lives, they weren't close by any means but he never knew Kalani to be a person of omission. Kalani just shrugged and walked away.

The next day they had war games. They would spend the week in the woods with no provisions. They had to live off the land and survive an attack against other opposing squads. The last team standing was awarded with a liberty weekend off the camp.

Sunrise came to quickly for Kalani. She ran from her makeshift campsite as fast as her fatigued legs could carry her. She had to find out which country she was in. Hopefully she was in one she had a safe house set up. She had never been more grateful to have backup plans on foreign soil.

Getting to the perimeter of the forest, Kalani heard voices and strained her ears to pick up the local dialect. She smiled. I'm in Russia! Hopefully I'm in Vladivostok.

She listened very carefully for the Vladi dialect and smiled triumphantly. She was most certainly in Vladivostok. It was one of the few Russian cities where she had a safe house.

Her contract with the United States Government gave her untapped financial resources to keep her off the grid in times like these. Each safe house had twenty-thousand American dollars converted to the local currency, as well as alias identification. You couldn't get into the house without her fingerprint, voice and optical recognition. Each house also stored a vehicle and personal protection artillery or PPA.

Each location was harder to get into than Fort Knox and harder to get out of than Guantanamo Bay. She personally drafted the blueprints to each house and oversaw the construction for each to make sure that the measurements were accurate to within a millimeter.


Theodore Roosevelt High School

It has now been five days since Kalani's abduction, It was also Gracie's first day back to school. Her friends all greeted her with hugs and smiles. She didn't feel an ounce of happiness. She wanted to help find Kalani but the team and NCIS put the kibosh on her staying out of school any longer.

Uncle Steve would release a press statement at ten a.m. The news would interrupt class. It was hoped that it would expedite Kalani's return. She highly doubted that Kalani was in custody of her captors any longer but she went along with the adults' decisions.

A commotion down the hallway broke Gracie's thought process. She looked up to see Damon White strolling down the hall towards her with determination in his eyes. Gracie internally shook in her boots. The boy intimidated her more than any perpetrator she'd ever encounter. She figured it was due to the same level of training he and Kalani went through, although Kalani was better trained.

It wasn't until she met Joe White that she realized why the boy intimidated her. Gracie always had to brace herself when the two Whites came around to Uncle Steve's cookouts.

It had taken a lot for Damon and Kalani to settle their differences. Two years ago, they began dating, much to Uncle Steve's dismay. He needed Kalani to stay focused on her studies and her Navy Service. He didn't like the idea of his only child dating or potentially having sex and making him a grandfather raising his grandchild.

Damon was popular and had a reputation of being a perpetual flirt. All the girls fawned over him but he only had eyes for Kalani. Gracie had a sneaky suspicion that he had those feelings even when the couple were in summer camp every year.

"Hey Gracie," He greeted, "Where's my girl," he asked with a genuine smile. Concern showed in his eyes, "I texted her before her HOP but she didn't respond." He finished in a whisper knowing that their peers couldn't know the real reason Kalani missed months of school time a year.

Kalani finally had come clean about her military involvement with him a month after they started dating against Gracie's heeding. Gracie felt that the less who knew her secret the better.

"He's going to be suspicious about all of my "visits" to Aunt Mary's. I can't always say every month I have to fly out to California for a week. That will be very alarming even to a teenager," Kalani had reasoned with her and their family.

Damon had turned out to be a great co-conspirator. He turned out to be more understanding than anyone had anticipated.

"Um..." Gracie answered at a loss for words. Danno and Uncle Steve had expressly forbidden her to tell anyone what had really happened to Kalani. "I have to get to class. I'm sure my homeroom teacher has all of my makeup work I've missed. I'll see you later," she excused herself and ran down the hallway leaving Damon confused.

Two hours later, all the monitors in the classrooms sparked to life with a news press conference.

"We interrupt this program for an important news break. A local teen has been reported missing." The news anchor rips into the topic. "Fifteen year old Kalani McGarrett was kidnapped from her home six days ago. Miss McGarrett is considered to be in extreme danger."

A school picture of Kalani was shown on the screen with the Hawaii Five-0 Task force telephone number underneath. "We take you to the Governor's Palace live."

The camera cuts to a live feed with Uncle Steve and Aunt Kono standing beside the Governor in front of the Palace. "Five days ago my daughter Kalani was abducted by an unknown terrorist organization. It is unclear what their intentions are as there has been no ransom. Five-O has accepted assistance from the Naval Criminal Investigation Service in Los Angeles to further the investigation to her disappearance. We implore my daughter's captors to release her unharmed and return her to the safety of her family. As of right now Five-0 and NCIS have concluded that her abductors have taken her out of the country. We have alerted INTERPOL and gave them her description. Anyone with any information is to contact us or NCIS. There will be a twenty thousand dollar reward to the tipster with the information that brings her back into the arms of her family. Thank you."

Damon and Gracie were in the same biology class during the press conference interruption. Damon turned in his seat and glared at Gracie. The menace in his eyes showed the contempt he felt for being lied to. He shook his head and turned back to the teacher who now was attempting to do damage control.

Several of their classmates burst into tears, shock, and yelling in outrage at a beloved student being taken from them. Kalani was just as popular as Damon. She was kind and considerate of everyone she met and cherished their friendships.

Damon took the chaos as opportunity to rip Gracie out of her seat and pull her into the hallway to confront her. "You knew about this...all of you..." Damon raged. He wasn't known for his level head by any means, he usually got kicked out of a game every other week.

Gracie knew what Damon was accusing and as much as she wanted to confirm it, she couldn't. She was as much as a task force member as her family members. "I'm Five-O, Damon. I can't divulge anything about an ongoing investigation."

"She's my girlfriend!" he roared.

She sighed, "Especially to a boyfriend of the victim, for all we know you could be the prime suspect." She knew not to say anything else. Damon was intelligent he could very easily figure out this had to due more of the Navy then a civilian crime. It dawned on her that he wasn't realizing that NCISLA was aiding the investigation.

"WHAT!?" The thought never occurred to him that they could consider him a suspect. Sure he and Kalani had their share of differences. You couldn't call their relationship tame by any means but he never once raised a hand to her unless they were in a gym sparring.

Gracie recoiled at the outburst. She could see his face getting redder by the second. Her first reaction was to run away from the volatile young man, though she knew in the subconsciousness of her mind that he would never hit a girl.

Before she could respond, the Public Announcement Speakers crackled to life. "Everyone please report to the auditorium in a civilized manner for an emergency assembly. Everyone please report to the auditorium in a civilized manner for an emergency assembly. Thank you," the principal's voice pleaded.

"You heard the man," Gracie stated, smoothing out her school uniform skirt's pleats, then smoothing her hair in an attempt to collect herself.

Damon glaring at her, followed in the direction of the auditorium displeased with the underlying accusation.