CHAPTER 6

"Lukela to Kelly."

Chin Ho was following the bus at a discreet distance when dispatch put through a call on his radio.

"Chin here Duke."

"We have a potential problem. There's a traffic jam en route, doesn't look like it's going to clear anytime soon."

Sitting in the passenger seat next to him Kono's concern was audible as he checked his watch, "We have fifteen minutes – Steve will never make it in time!"

"Duke get some of the boys onto that jam wiki-wiki – you must clear a way for that bus to come through no matter what!"

"We're trying now but it doesn't look good. Any chance Danny's kidnappers will be caught in it too?" Lukela said hopefully.

"Don't know, we can't take that risk but whatever you do, do it soon and do it quietly, we don't want them catching onto our presence."

"That's practically impossible! We can't direct traffic without uniforms, you know that."

"Well if you don't we could well have Danny's death on our hands." Chin said seriously.

Duke needed no more encouragement, "I'm on it. Lukela out."

Kono tried to suppress the urge to put his foot to the pedal on top of Kelly's, he was willing the car forward toward their destination and just hoping that HPD could pull off a minor miracle and let the bus go through without it looking suspicious.

Ahead of them Steve McGarrett was sweating, they had reached the start of the jam and cars piled up around them, horns bleating in the sweltering heat. Unable to calm himself enough to sit, he was hanging onto the railing by the driver's cab, cheek pressed against the cool metal and peering out through the windshield into the city madness around them. On his wrist his watch bleeped the quarter hour like a death knell.

"Is there a way around this?" he asked the driver.

"No, it's often like this at this time of day, end of the lunch rush. I can sometimes sit here for half an hour and move a few hundred yards. It's pretty normal."

The driver's nonchalance was hardly helping Steve's temper and he felt his blood pressure rising with the humidity inside the bus. Fifteen minutes. He couldn't do it in fifteen minutes. Up ahead he saw the welcome sight of a uniformed officer trying to ease the traffic aside to make way for the bus but it was too late. He would have to get off.

Turning to one of the plain clothes officers he said, "I'm getting off here. Traffic's too bad up ahead and I've no chance of making it by two unless I go on foot. I want you men to get off after me and fan out. Make your way to the market by different routes. One of you radio Kelly or Kalakua and tell them what's happening."

And without waiting for a response he tapped the driver on the shoulder and told him to open the doors. They hissed open and Steve jumped from the steps to the pavement, ribs jarring painfully and set off at a brisk jog. If he could keep his pace up he calculated that he should make it to the meet on time. He sincerely hoped so – for Danny's sake.

In the van following a technician pointed out to Che that the beeper had started up again and they watched as McGarrett moved further away from the bus, his tall figure weaving through the crowd like a barracuda through a shoal of fish.

Pre-warned, the rest of the officers approached from a different route and as requested a handful of men were located around the International Marketplace and already keeping an eye open for any sign of Williams or the kidnappers.

The early afternoon sun was scorching as McGarrett's long legs ate up the paving stones beneath him. He jogged along holding his ribs and hoping he didn't dislodge the locating device. His head throbbed and he was perspiring badly from the exertion. He felt ill and knew he shouldn't even be out of bed, let alone running the streets in the early afternoon heat but he had no choice; time was ticking away on his wrist strap and each minute brought either himself or Danny close to an appointment with fate.

As he rounded a corner he saw his destination at the end of the road and stopped for a brief second to catch his breath. Oddly the traffic had eased up and was flowing freely along Kalakaua Avenue, there was even a bus coming in the opposite direction. McGarrett decided to try and beat it to the stop closest to the marketplace, thereby fooling – if anyone was looking – the kidnappers into thinking he had still arrived by bus.

Steve felt rather than saw some his men around him but somehow didn't feel comforted.

Five minutes in hand.

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Brett parked the Lincoln at the service entrance to a gaudy red two-story Chinese restaurant, pulling up in the shade of Palm trees. Barlow had been a silent partner in the failed venture and was left with keys to the dismal place. It had closed down following a nasty outbreak of vermin in the kitchens, some of which had inexplicably ended up in the cuisine and until the place sold he had free access.

It was comparatively quiet round the back of the Market, not close enough to the tourists for any casual onlooker to notice what was going on but close enough that they could blend in with the crowd fast if they needed to. It also had a back way in that was their escape route .

Tossing Noah the keys, Rent slid himself out of the car and watched as the tall man opened up the back door and Brett eased the car into reverse so the trunk was close enough to the entrance to get their prisoner out unobserved.

"Okay, get him out."

In his cramped confinement Danny felt the car come to a halt and tensed, unsure what to expect. He was finding it hard to keep awake as the shock of the day caught up with him but the moment he heard the click of a lock stopped his mental count, realising that they had reached their destination, and willed himself to be ready for whatever was to come.

Daylight leaked through the blindfold as the trunk opened and he squinted behind it. Unseen hands reached for him as Brett and Noah half-pulled, half-lifted him out. His bad leg scraped across the side of the car and he struggled as the pain lanced through his thigh but he was held firmly, deadened feet hitting the ground with two hollow thuds as they pulled him upright.

Danny couldn't walk, he was too weak and his muscles had temporarily stopped working properly but he felt the blood rush back to his extremities, flooding his nerve endings and bringing them back to life with explosive force. He sagged and was immediately dragged inside the restaurant and the doors closed behind them.

They dropped Williams unceremoniously to the floor and with no time to spare, Brett distributed stockings and baseball caps to Noah and his boss and each put the thick material over their faces, distorting their features before placing the hats on their heads. It was a risk coming out in the open but better than meeting somewhere the police had time to set up a trap.

This way they could work their distraction and grab McGarrett as planned. Barlow didn't doubt that the Five-O Chief had something up his sleeve, even given the small amount of time to the deadline. He wouldn't put it past the detective and he had just the plan to keep the police otherwise occupied.

"Right, get Williams up to the steps, you start the fire down here." He said, meaning Noah and Brett respectively.

Brett went to get the fuel from the car whilst Noah, hefting Danny up onto his shoulder went swiftly up the internal staircase to the outside steps that ran down the side of the restaurant behind the fire exit. Pushing the fire door bar down he got the struggling detective out onto the wooden landing area and began to tie him standing up to the scrollwork iron railings at the top of the stairs, all the time looking round to see if anyone was watching.

Down below the market was heaving with people, milling to and fro around the stalls and shops. The noise of haggling and happy tourists making overpriced purchases blocking out any moans from the trussed young detective as he tried, ineffectually, to get free from his captor.

"Sorry man, I have to do this." Noah was genuinely apologetic, voice muffled through the stocking as he tied the last knot in place and tested it. Danny was barely able to stand as he leaned heavily against the rails.

Noah put a hand on Dan's shoulder,"It's not you we want, it's your boss. No hard feelings eh?" But for Danny there were hard feelings, lots of them and he intended to make sure he brought each and every one of the criminals to book, if it took every last breath he had.

Thomas Barlow stood outside the restaurant and looked up as Noah finished dealing with Williams. Noah nodded to his boss and took the stairs two at a time back to ground level.

"Good. Very good." Rent said in approval and smiled up at the detective, "We have our Judas goat, now let us get our lion."

Inside the fire had started, fuel catching quickly as Brett looked over the blaze, dark green irises reflecting the flames. He grinned, happy to witness the start of the destruction before joining his boss outside. Job well done, he thought to himself.

Tongues of flame were soon licking at table cloths and wood, rivers of fire racing hungrily toward the walls and instantly incinerating a silk dragon tapestry, real flames leaping out of the mythical creature's mouth. The updraft caught the last remnants of the doomed material and sent it floating up to the air where it touched a paper lantern and that too shot into flames, the bamboo framework illuminated briefly like the square skeleton of a forgotten creature before it too was gone.

Danny Williams had no idea that an inferno had started beneath him but he was aware that he was alone outside and that he had to get free or Steve would be in big trouble.

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McGarrett wasn't sure what to expect once he arrived at the marketplace, the caller had said nothing more. It was the Five-O Chief's assumption that Danny would be left or he would be met at the entrance where the exchange would take place.

He stood beneath the old Banyan tree, puffing and holding his chest as he looked around, eyes roving back and forth for any sign of Williams or instructions. The small waterfall and pond in the entrance way splashing noisily against rocks and the occasional 'plop' was heard as a fish rose to the surface for air before retreating back into the depths.

Children ran back and forth in front of him, squealing with delight as they watched the colourful Koi swimming in the water. The crush of unwashed bodies was almost too much for the lead detective as he scanned the area hoping to see his friend. Nothing. No sign of Danno or his captors. He checked his watch – three minutes after two. They were late but at least he was on time.

It crossed his mind that the whole thing was a ruse and that getting him there was a pretence for something else but just as that odd thought occurred to him he saw something out of the corner of his eye that galvanised him into action.

Way off in a secluded part of the market he saw a curl of black smoke drifting up into the sky. Checking to see if any of the other officers had seen it Steve caught the eye of Kono who had just walked in followed by Chin ho. Being the good detectives that they were they ignored him completely but caught his subtle signals.

Steve began walking hurriedly toward the spot where he could see smoke and he knew that Kelly and Kalakua were doing the same thing. It was the only possible thing he could think of to do under the circumstances seeing as there was no other sign of Williams.

As he rounded a corner he heard a woman screaming and followed her gaze towards a Pagoda-style building. The downstairs floor and part of the upstairs were alive with flames, dense black and orange were billowing outwards and the curl of smoke was now a torrent. But it wasn't the sight of the flames that had caused the young lady to scream, it was the figure slumped on the stairs, torn, bloodied, bound and coughing. He had found Danny.

He didn't know what to do, the staircase was made of wood and at any moment Steve knew that it too could be set alight. With other people's safety to think about and the overwhelming need to get Danny away from danger, McGarrett knew that the police operation was blown. Onlookers and plain clothes officers were bound to see the fire and then their duty would be to the public.

Steve headed toward the staircase thinking only of his officer. Danny looked terrible, his clothes were already scorched from the explosion and now it looked as though he might roast alive if someone didn't get him out of there.

He shouted up to his Second-in-Command, "Danno! I'm coming to get you, hold on!"

Danny heard his friend but couldn't speak because of the gag in his mouth. He wanted to warn Steve of the danger, that it was a trap. All he could do was shake his head, as violently as his concussed brain would let him. He couldn't let McGarrett be taken but he was helpless and it was killing him to know he could do nothing to stop what was about to happen. Dan felt intense heat beside him and heard the crackle and pop of things exploding and if that wasn't clue enough to what was happening, his nostrils were filling with acrid smoke, making him choke as it filled his lungs.

"Hang on Danno!" McGarrett shouted again and moving the now hysterical onlooker out of the way he raced towards the steps to save his struggling friend.

In the shadows Brett and Noah were waiting for him. As he got closer they stepped out and simply grabbed Steve from behind. His mind began racing, knowing he'd walked into a trap and feeling stupid for it. He tried to pull away, unable to see his attacker's faces from the stockings over them and as he fought he felt a cloth pressed over his face and nose and was vaguely aware of people rushing back and forth around him. Steve heard Chin and Kono calling out from somewhere behind as they saw Danny surrounded now by flaming architecture. He could hear sirens in the background.

Suddenly there was a tremendous noise as glass windows exploded outwards showering the area with shards of heated glass followed by more screams. Steve's last view before the chemical he was inhaling overtook him was of his friend, in mortal danger as a cloud of noxious fumes billowed over the place where Danny lay injured and now unconscious.

McGarrett's vision was fading fast and as he gradually lost the fight to stay aware he felt himself being dragged backwards, into the trees and out of sight. Away from Danno and into the waiting car of Thomas Rent' Barlow.

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