A thorough search of the grounds revealed no clues. It was now almost 11pm and time was ticking away from them too quickly. Steve was quite willing to stay up all night working on this case, but he could see that Danny, particularly, was tired and he had had a trying day. Curbing his impatience, Steve announced, "We've done all we can for now. Let's reconvene back here at 6.30am and see what we can come up with when we're fresh."

For a moment, he thought Danny was going to object, but as Chin and Kono leapt to their feet with alacrity, he smothered whatever protest he was going to make. "Want us to follow you home, boss?" Kono asked.

"No," Steve denied. "Mickey is long gone. You get off home." He rose and closed the windows and Danny picked up his suit jacket and shrugged into it. "Ready?" Steve asked.

"I'll just pick up my clothes," Danny replied and a few moments later, they locked the doors behind them.

Knowing that he was a target made Danny feel rather uneasy as they walked down the steps to Steve's car. They could be as cautious as possible, but there was always a chance for a sniper to take him down. There was no cover at the front of the Palace. However, they made the car safely and were soon on the move.

They didn't talk. Danny gazed out of the side window, his mind just drifting as the long day caught up with him. Steve was still thinking about how they could find Mickey. The man was growing bolder as the 24 hours raced past. The tear gas had not done them any real harm, but he had shown that he was watching them closely and the gas grenade could just as easily have been another Molotov cocktail. Mickey was determined to get his brother back. Steve was determined that Jimmy would stay in jail and Mickey would be joining him! And the other thing Steve was determined about was that Danny was not going to die during the operation.

It suddenly occurred to him that a pair of headlights had been in his rear view mirror for several minutes now. That wasn't entirely unusual, but Steve's senses were on the alert and the last thing he wanted to do was lead Mickey straight to his apartment. Casually, he indicated and turned left. The headlights followed him. Steve drove sedately along, for him, before abruptly turning right without any warning. The headlights followed him as Steve mashed the accelerator to the floor, sending the big Mercury powering through the streets.

"What's going on?" Danny asked, reaching for his seatbelt.

"Someone's following us," Steve replied.

Reaching for the mic, Danny contacted HPD dispatch and requested back up. Kono responded, saying he was on the way, but it would take him several minutes to reach their position. Dispatch sent cars, too.

By now, Steve was heading out of town. There was less danger to innocent lives that way and he had more chance of shaking Mickey off. Ideally, back-up would intercept the car following them and Mickey would no longer be a problem. However, Steve was enough of a realist to know that ideal scenarios seldom came to pass. He concentrated on his driving.

They were out of town by now and Steve pushed the car to even greater speeds. Danny reported their position every few minutes, but there was still no sign of the promised back-up. Mickey was catching up to them.

Something flashed across the road in front of them – a small animal of some kind – and Steve instinctively lifted his foot up and swerved to miss it. He regained control immediately, but those few seconds were enough for Mickey to ram the back of the big car.

Fighting the wheel, Steve tried to accelerate away again, but he had lost the advantage. Mickey rammed them again, this time not hitting the big car square on, but slightly off-centre. It was enough to send the Mercury into a spin. Steve fought the wheel as they skidded across the pavement. Somewhere deep inside, he knew this was a losing battle; the car was just too heavy, but he refused to give up the fight as long as there was breath in his body.

There was another collision and the car tipped, rolling once over the side of the road before coming to rest against a tree. Neither man moved.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Not quite unconscious, Danny knew that he ought to be doing something, but he was too dazed to figure out what it was. He was desperately uncomfortable. His seat belt cut into his body and his brain felt shaken up. Moving was not in his purview at that moment, although he was not sure why. His face rested on something hard and he carefully turned his head.

Slumped over the steering wheel, Steve McGarrett was unconscious, blood running down his face from a cut above his eye. "Steve!" Danny's cry was lost in the hissing from the burst radiator and the cacophony inside his head. He reached out for his friend and his arm brushed Steve's sleeve. There was no response.

Clarity was returning, but slowly. Danny knew he had to get them some help, but for a few seconds, h could not figure out how to do that. Then he remembered – the mic. He thought he had had it in his hand, but it wasn't there now and when he tried to sit up to look for it, he couldn't move. His side of the car was hard up against a tree and the metal had caved in around him. Pain shot through his body and for a moment, he thought he would be sick.

The feeling was forgotten as a shadow appeared on the edge of his vision. Help was there! He could relax; they would soon be free. But as Danny squinted at their rescuer, he realised that it was not help – it was Mickey. His heart skipped a beat and a surge of adrenalin allowed him to lift his head to face the man he was sure was there to execute him. "Mickey!" he growled.

"Oh good, you're still alive," Mickey replied. That seemed rather odd to Dan, but he had no time to think any further about it. "I'm glad to see that. Now listen good, pig. I'm going to take your boss here. At 10am, you'll meet me at Kapiolani Bandstand and you'll have my brother. We can do a swap – McGarrett for Jimmy. If you don't bring him, I'm going to kill McGarrett and then I'll kill you."

"Five-O don't negotiate," Danny growled, but Mickey seemed indifferent to that threat. He yanked the unconscious chief from the car and even adrenalin could not help Danny stop him. "No!" he shouted, as Mickey beckoned to someone and between them, they picked up Steve and vanished from site.

Struggling futilely, Danny was unable to free himself. He felt no pain now; his sole focus was on getting free from the car and finding Steve before the 10am deadline.