Steve and Olivia joined everyone else around the smart table.

"One of the missing girls escaped. And HPD officer picked her up and is taking her to the emergency room at King's Medical Center."

"You're kidding?" Olivia asked in surprise. "Which girl?"

Danny singled out one of the pictures on the screen that they had of all missing girls and their stats. "Leilani Kealoha. Apparently, she was able to get away last night while they were transporting her in the back of a truck."

"We need to talk to her. Now!" Olivia said before quickly walking back in to Steve's office to grab her purse. Steve agreed, gave everyone else instructions to hang tight, and within minutes he and Olivia were on their way.

They walked into the Emergency Room and found Leilani with a nurse and social worker close by her side. After finding out her parents had been notified and were on their way, Olivia told her they needed to talk.

"Leilani, we need to ask you some questions. Is that okay? Or would you rather wait for your mom and dad?"

Steve was somewhat frustrated by the question because time was important if they were going to find the other girls, but he understood Olivia's concern and decided to stay silent.

To his relief, the girl shook her head and took a deep breath, "I can talk now. It's okay."

"Okay. Can you tell us what happened last night and how you were able to get away?" Olivia asked gently.

"I'd heard them mention something about transporting me for some sort of auction…and then I heard them talking about borrowing a truck to 'do the job'."

"Did they mention a name…Or say who they were getting the vehicle from?"

She shook her head. "No, but I was hoping it would give me a way to escape…..It was my only chance."
She began to sniff.

Steve stepped forward but kept his voice very soft, "Leilani, I know this is difficult but can you tell us how you got away from them?"

"It was pretty late when they came into my room. They put a pill in my mouth and tried to force me to swallow it…but they've done the same thing for the last few days and I've faked it. I would pretend to swallow it and then spit it out as soon as they left the room. "

Everyone in the room couldn't help but be impressed with the girl.
"They came back a little while later and thought I was out," she continued. "Then the man picked me up and put me into the back of a truck before throwing a tarp over me."

"You said 'the man'. Does that mean it wasn't only one person?" Olivia asked.

"No. Not just a man…They've always kept their faces hidden from me, but I know there is a man and a woman. I heard her voice several times. She was the one who would come to give me the medicine."

A woman? That detail was surprising to them both because it was unusual based on the other cases they'd been looking at.

"Okay, so what happened once you were in the back of the truck?" Olivia asked gently. It was so difficult for her to tread lightly when she felt on the verge of a breakthrough in a case, but she knew it was important to keep her emotions in check for Leilani's sake.

"I waited a few minutes and started scooting towards the back of the bed. My dad has a truck…so I knew I might be able to get out if I took my time. I prayed…a LOT…..and was able to unhook the latch to put the tailgate down without them noticing. I could tell that we were in town because we were getting stopped by traffic lights…..so I waited until I could get out without them noticing and quickly ran behind a tree until they were far enough down the road not to notice me. "

Steve couldn't believe the young girl had kept her cool during such a traumatic event. He couldn't help but feel proud of her.

Olivia's feelings mirrored his own, "That was very brave of you! So we have to ask: Do you have any idea where they were keeping you? You said you were in a room. Was it in a house or a warehouse or….."

"It was a motel."

"A motel? Are you sure?" Olivia asked.

"Yes. I know it was a motel because I heard people coming in and out a lot in the rooms around me…And I would hear when housekeeping came to clean the rooms…but they never came in to mine."

Steve and Olivia shared a look.

"Okay, that's great," Steve encouraged. "Can you guess how long you were in the back of the truck before you were able to get out?"

"Maybe five minutes?" she guessed.

That was going to help considerably since they knew the general area where Leilani had been picked up by HPD before being taken to the hospital. It would help them narrow down a search grid.

"How about the name of the hotel? Did you see it on anything in the room or maybe hear someone say it?"

A sad tear rolled down Leilani's cheek, "No, I'm sorry. I wish I could give you more. The room was pretty bare."

"It's okay, " Steve said reassuringly and gave her a soft smile. "You're doing great, honey. You've already helped a lot."

When she offered him a weak smile and shake of her head, he said, "Let me ask you this: Was there anything inside of the room that might help us find it? A lot of motels have a certain way they decorate. Can you tell me what the bedspread looked like…..or maybe a picture on the wall?"

Leilani gave them a description of the room which unfortunately sounded like 70% of the hotels in the area, but they weren't going to be discouraged. It was a hell of a lot more than what they'd been working with so far.

"Thank you, Leilani," Olivia said with a warm smile. "You are so incredibly brave. We're going to do everything we can to find the people who did this to you. I promise."

As they said their goodbyes and started to leave the room, Steve heard her call him.

"Commander McGarrett?"

He turned to look at her.

"There are other girls, aren't there? I'm not the only one?"

Steve's lips pursed as he shook his head. "Yes, there are more. But what you've told us has given us some great leads. We're going to do everything we can to save them. Okay? I promise! "

As Steve and Olivia walked out of the hospital and got into Steve's truck, Olivia said, "That girl has more guts than anyone I've ever met. Can you imagine being 16 years old and having the wits about you to do what she did?"

Steve agreed, "Yeah, let's just hope we can use what she's given us to find the rest of them….because if we don't, she's never going to forgive herself."

Steve and Olivia walked back into the Five-0 HQ and quickly briefed everyone on what they'd found out.

"So we need to focus on the most seedy motels we can find," Olivia said.

"Just curious…," Tani said good naturedly. "But why?"

Knowing she was new to the field, Olivia understood her curiosity.

"Because after what we learned today, it's pretty certain this isn't a one-man-deal. Which means it goes deeper than what we thought," Olivia explained. "Our main perpetrator may me a copycat and has followed the lead of another serial kidnapper to throw us off. BUT, now we know someone else is also involved. Either way, we know there is more than one person involved since Leilani said there is a man and woman involved. They're most likely using a less than reputable motel to keep the girls hidden because there's a high volume of traffic in the other rooms. "

"We've stumbled on to a possible human trafficking ring," Steve continued. "We need to find the other girls and break it down before we loose track of them."

Everyone shook their head in agreement.

It was late.

Really late…..Almost 10:30 p.m and they were all tired after a 14 hour day. They agreed the best plan of attack was to take a break, get some sleep, and start early the next morning. Since Tani had come in later than everyone else that day, she agreed to stay a little longer and work on trying to narrow down motels they could look at. To the surprise of no one, Junior agreed to stay with her.

The rest of the team left with the agreement they would get back together first thing in the morning to work the case 'hard and heavy'.

*************H50*********************H50********************H50

Steve pulled up to Olivia's hotel.

"Good work today, Liv."

Olivia looked genuinely surprised by his compliment.

"Thanks," she smiled.

"Wanna have breakfast tomorrow?" he asked She couldn't miss the small tremor in his voice as if he was afraid she'd turn him down.

She gave him another warm smile, "I would love to."

They agreed on a time before Steve insisted on parking and walking her up to her room. No, it wasn't enough to just drop her off at the front door; He needed to know she was safely in her room.

Then, he went home, spent some time with Eddie, and fell into a deep sleep.

*******************H50*******************H50*****************H50
7:45 The next morning…..

Olivia answered her phone knowing two things. First, Steve was going to be pissed that she'd stood him up. And second, he would be even more upset when he found out why.

"Hey, where are you?" he asked. "Didn't we say we'd meet for breakfast at 7:30?"

"Yeah, I'm sorry. Something came up so I'm gonna have to take a raincheck."

"What do you mean? Where are you?"

"I'm….uh…..Following a lead."

"What?! What kind of lead? And why are you alone? Tell me where you are and I'll meet you. We'll look into it together."

"No, Steve. There isn't time."

"Dammit, Olivia! Stay where you are…Do not go any further. Do you understand me?"

"You can't order me around, Steve," she interrupted. "Besides, I'm a trained federal agent…..I think I can handle it. You'll be the first person to know what I find out."

"OLIVIA…" Steve began and then cursed when he realized she'd ended the call. He immediately put a call into Jerry.

"Jerry! Thank God you're already in the office. I need your help."

"Insomnia is a bitch.…..Sorry to say that, but it's true! I can't help but be in early. So what do you need?"

Steve couldn't help but smile.

"I need you to get a lock on Olivia's cell phone, buddy. I need to know where she's at. Right now!"

"Everything okay?"

"I doubt it, "Steve sighed in frustration. "Something tells me she's getting ready to do something incredibly stupid. I need to know where she is."

"I'm on it, Commander. Hang on."

Within moments, Jerry had given Steve a location. Steve put his truck into gear and took off in her direction wondering why she would go to that part of town alone to investigate any sort of lead. He was furious and worried at the same time.

Steve pulled into the parking lot of the motel and quickly found Olivia's rental car. Unfortunately, she was nowhere in sight. Since Steve had no idea which room she might be in, he decided to try a direct approach. He walked into the hotel office and pulled out his badge as soon as the hotel manager came forward.

"I'm Commander Steve McGarrett with the Five-0 Task Force. I need to know if you saw the woman who was driving that car," he said while pointing in the cars direction. "And if so, which room did she go into?"

"Can I ask what this is about, Commander?" the manager asked.

"I need to find her, so can you help or not? Because if your answer is no, I will be kicking down every door in this place to…."

Before Steve knew what had happened, he felt a pinch in his neck and blacked out.

**************H50*****************H50**************************H50