Marella accepted the glasses from Caitlin who nodded imperceptibly at her; the camera was hidden in the frame. The bride-to-be slipped them on and smoothed a hand over the crisp white shirt that formed part of the police uniform she had changed into.

'Glasses?' Sumni asked.

'All adds to the disguise.' Marella said covering. 'I'm ready.'

Sumni nodded. 'OK, I want this room cleared to essential personnel only!' The foyer had been mostly emptied already but there was a final rush for the door leaving only a few strategically armed officers, the Chief and the two women. He scowled at Caitlin. 'That's means you too.'

Caitlin nodded and hugged Marella. 'Good luck and if you get a chance, tell Hawke I love him.'

Marella gave her a quick squeeze before she pulled back and watched the red-head leave.

'Here we go.' Sumni handed her the pizzas and jerked his thumb at the officer covering the door. He rapped on it. The door opened and Marella walked forward. She was barely a step inside when her arm was grabbed and she was pulled roughly to the side.

John grinned at her before he jerked his head at one of his men. 'Danny, send the hostages out.'

Marella watched silently as a line of men and the tearful stripper were ushered out of the door, her father and Michael's amongst them. She gave an inward sigh of relief before the door was slammed shut.

John relieved her of the pizzas and gestured at a leather chair in the centre of the room. 'Take a seat, sweetheart.' He handed the pizzas off to one of his men to distribute.

She followed his instructions warily as she began her review of the room. Her dark eyes caught on Michael's angry set face. She guessed he wasn't pleased to see her; Hawke looked just as perturbed. She gave a weak smile before she moved on.

'I wouldn't bother taking mental notes, sweetheart.' John crouched down in front of her suddenly. 'You're not leaving until we do.' His finger stroked down her cheek. 'You're a bit of a strange choice for a hostage, don't you think?'

'I am?' Marella's eyes flickered warningly to Michael to stay still.

'Definitely.' John smiled. 'I'm guessing you're not a police officer at all, are you Ms Chappelier?'

Marella stared at him and kept quiet.

'You don't need to say anything.' John laughed. 'I already know everything. Why'd you think I let your Daddy go?'

'Leave her alone!' Michael blurted out struggling to his feet.

Hawke swore under his breath and got to his.

'And this must be the groom-to-be and what?' John's pale grey eyes flickered to Hawke. 'The best man?'

'I said leave her alone.' Michael said straightening to his full height and glaring at John. He felt Hawke tense beside him.

'And I say you should sit down and keep out of this.' John said aiming his gun at him.

'Michael, please.' Marella said urgently. 'Do as he says.'

'I would do as the little lady says.' John taunted.

Michael scowled ferociously and looked at Marella. She nodded and adjusted her glasses deliberately signalling him. He sat back down slowly and unwillingly; Hawke followed him a heartbeat later.

'Good.' John turned back to Marella. 'Now what do you think Daddy will pay for you?' He laughed and stepped away heading for the phone on the table by the door. He picked it up and dialled. 'Yeah. This is John. I want to speak with the Chief.' There was a moment's pause. 'I just wanted to thank you for the gift. Ms Chappelier is a fine addition to my hostages.' His expression darkened. 'No, you listen to me!' His finger stabbed the wooden table top. 'I want another two million for her.' He thrust a hand through his hair. 'I don't care how you get the money. Just do it!' He slammed the phone down.

On the other end, Sumni replaced the receiver in its cradle with a frustrated growl. 'He knows who Marella is.'

'How?' Tommy demanded.

'Maybe he recognised her.' Sumni said impatiently. 'Does it matter? He knows who she is and he's demanding another two million dollars for her.'

'I can't organise that kind of money just like that.' Tommy began panicked.

Caitlin's lips firmed. Don't worry, Tommy. I'll organise the additional money.' She patted his arm. 'You should go home.'

'I'm not going anywhere.' Tommy said bristling. 'They've got my daughter in there.'

'She's right, Tommy.' Sumni said. 'Leave us to do our jobs.'

'He's right.' Michael's father said quietly. 'We've given the police a statement. There's nothing for us to do here but get in the way.'

'Besides, Simone, Elizabeth and Angelina are back at the house worrying.' Caitlin said softly. 'I'm sure they could do with some support from y'all.'

Tommy nodded dejected. 'This is all my fault.'

'Mine too.' Michael Senior sighed.

'The party was a nice thought, guys. You weren't to know what would happen.' She shepherded them from the foyer and into Marella's car. She watched as they drove away before she instructed Ellie to get the additional ransom sorted. She had just turned away when a faint sound on the breeze caught her attention; she looked up and started smiling.

Airwolf.

The helicopter descended onto the lawn in front of the club house and Caitlin hurried over. Saint John was barely out of the cockpit before she hugged him hard.

'Am I glad to see you guys.' She said as she moved to hug her crew-mate the same way.

'What's going on?' Saint John asked impatiently. 'Is String OK?'

'As far as I know.' Caitlin said. She gestured at the club-house. 'Look, why don't you guys take a few moments to freshen up and then I'll brief you.' She walked them down to the club-house and introduced them to the Chief before she left them and made her way back to Airwolf. She let herself into the cockpit and hurried to the engineer's console where she keyed in the frequencies to pick up Marella's video feed. The fuzzy image snapped onto the monitor and Caitlin began her work. She didn't look up as the guys returned; Saint John climbing in beside her while Mike stayed up front.

'So what's happening?' Mike asked.

'That's surveillance from inside the room.' Saint John noted pointing at the screen. 'How'd you get that?'

'Marella.' Caitlin said dryly. She brought them up to date and explained what had happened.

'You didn't stop her!' Saint John exclaimed surprised.

'Short of tying her up and sticking in the trunk of a car, I don't see how I could.' Caitlin retorted. 'And even then I'm not real certain it would have stopped her.'

'Knowing Marella, probably not.' Mike commented. He'd seen enough of the agent in action during the past couple of months to appreciate Marella's stubbornness.

'At least, we've got this data.' Caitlin said tapping the screen.

'To recap,' Mike said taking a gulp of water from a canteen, 'Marella, Michael and Hawke are all being held hostage with another twenty-odd people. We think the guard at the gate was in on it and the gang always planned for it to be a hostage situation.'

'But why the pretence?' Saint John asked. 'Why not just take everyone hostage and then call the police?'

'To protect someone on the outside.' Caitlin mused.

'The guard?' Mike mused.

'No.' She shook her head. 'He was part of the ruse and had to be eliminated because he would never have held up under police questioning on the timings.'

'Not to mention it would have looked a little odd if they'd kept him alive.' Saint John muttered running his hand through his hair. 'So what else have we got? Do we know who they're protecting?'

'I'm thinking someone on the police.' Mike said pointing the canteen he held at them.

'Yeah, that's what I was thinking.' Caitlin murmured. 'I don't see how they picked up on Marella's identity so quickly otherwise.'

'They could have recognised her.'

'Hardly.' Caitlin scoffed. 'She's rarely on the island and there was no public picture published for the marriage announcement.' She sighed. 'I've got Airwolf running identity checks from the pictures of the gang members picked up on the surveillance camera Marella is wearing with the Hawaii police records. If we get a match it may help shed some light on who is their contact.'

'Do you think there's a link to Cordelli?' Saint John asked worriedly.

She shook her head. 'I wondered but Tommy told me he only started planning the party when he and Michael's father cooked it up together a couple of days ago. I think whoever came up with this,' she gestured outside vaguely, 'didn't have a lot of time to take advantage. That rules Cordelli out; it has to be someone local.'

'So our plan is what?' Mike questioned.

She looked at the two men. 'Whoever organised it wants the money.'

'So the gang will be allowed to ostensibly escape with the money.' Mike mused.

'With them meeting up with their collaborator later.' Saint John said.

'Which would give us an opportunity.' Mike noted.

'I can put a tracer in with the money.' Caitlin said thoughtfully. 'We can track them, catch them at the exchange and stop them from escaping completely with the cash.'

'Sounds like the beginnings of a plan.' Mike said taking another sip of water before offering the canteen to Saint John. 'But it would be good if we could get a handle on who the collaborator is before then.'

'Agreed.' Caitlin said.

'You know,' Mike continued, 'they have to be communicating with the gang if they informed him who Marella was.'

'We could trace the calls.' Saint John said hurriedly swallowing the mouthful of liquid.

'On it.' Caitlin tapped an instruction into the computer. She sighed and rubbed the back of her neck. 'I guess we wait it out until then.'

Both men looked as pleased as she was with the idea.