I do not own Hawaii Five-0 or any characters. No copyright infringement intended. The same goes for the fantastic show and wonderful characters portrayed in Flashpoint.

Notes: Arcanum: a secret or mystery; carefully hidden knowledge.

Chapter 3

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Less than two minutes after Danny had contacted emergency services, Steve was answering a call from the 911 Operator's supervisor and the actual recording was replayed in the Five-0 office for the entire team to hear.

"This Detective Danny Williams, Five-0 task force. I have a possible overdose at the corner of Keeaumoku Street near Mayor's Bar. Send me a cruiser and an ambulance."

Steve's fingers clenched painfully at the corners of his desk when he heard the sounds of a large vehicle, the soft pained groan followed by the distant sound of a slamming door; and then nothing as the call disconnected. He knew without a doubt that the cell phone had simply fallen from Danny's hands.

"Get geared up. Now." He didn't need to say that either because they were already moving as one out the door and gathering their equipment on a run.

The ride to Danny's last known location was tense as Kono coordinated additional support with HPD. By the time they arrived, three other cruisers with Duke Lukela in charge were in attendance and both the Camaro and the alley had been cordoned off as a crime scene. An ambulance sat off to the side but the medics were standing aimlessly by on the sidewalk. Steve eyed them worriedly before moving towards the Camaro. It was blatantly obvious that they had no 'customer' to care for - there was no sign of an overdose victim or of an injured police officer.

"Thanks, Duke." Chin grasped the man's shoulder in gratitude as they all ducked under the tape and immediately began searching in different directions for the cell phone or any signs of a struggle. It didn't take Chin long to confirm what Duke had found; there was no evidence of any kind in the small area.

"Nothing, Steve. No blood. No signs of a fight or a struggle ..absolutely nothing."

"That doesn't mean that there wasn't one." The reply was blunt and dangerous as Steve cased the street and alley. He saw exactly what Danny had initially noted too. A very busy street lined with dive establishments, boarded up store fronts and pawn shops; with more than the usual amount of street walkers and junkies. People walked by quickly with their eyes down or averted especially since they more than likely had their own unsavory business dealings. But with the police presence now growing, those watching were becoming fewer and farther between with the more longer term residents already in hiding.

"Why the hell would he come here?" There was no answer to Steve's futile question; the section of town was less than desirable and it made no sense. Yet, the Camaro was parked tauntingly on the corner.

"Car's not locked but nothing is missing." Kono had quickly checked the glove compartment and trunk for signs of theft or to see if Danny had taken any other equipment or weapons. She paused when she saw the unopened bakery box of fresh malasadas left on the passenger seat. It was frightening in its normalcy and she watched Steve's face darken when he ducked his head into the interior as well.

Her voice dropped to a whisper as her worry grew. "Everything is still here; he wasn't expecting trouble."

"No. No he certainly wasn't." Steve agreed as he continually surveyed the area and absorbed their startling lack of findings. Barely 20 or 25 minutes had passed since their own conversation and Danny sounded distracted, but not overtly concerned. He knew whomever he was intending to visit that morning; and then something had gone terribly wrong.

"It was a trap." Steve ran his hands over his face and then pointed to the small number of nearby gawkers. It was the first and most obvious answer. "Danny was lured here. On purpose."

His next demands were to the fully assembled joint team. "Talk to these people .. knock on doors. Search every nook and cranny. Someone had to have seen something. And Kono .. track down his cell phone."

"On it." But as they had anticipated, most of the locals had already gone into hiding as soon as the police presence took over the area. Those that were now watching had shown up well after the action and so, hadn't seen anything and were of no help. Bit by bit, the search widened out of necessity.

Lingering by the car, Steve uselessly continued his search in and around the Camaro before checking his watch. The streets were emptying and people were slowly moving on. The ambulance crew had been called to another emergency and were in the process of departing. Danny had seemingly vanished into thin air and there was distressingly nothing to go on. But he rocked quickly off the driver's side door at Kono's triumphant shout.

"Steve! GPS on the phone shows it five blocks over!" Kono was nearly ecstatic with the finding as she shoved her device virtually under his nose. "Slow pace .. someone's on the move .. likely walking."

He bolted back towards his truck with Chin and Kono quick to follow and then shouted orders over his shoulder.

"Duke, keep the site secure. Get forensics down here now. Run it all under a microscope." With a quick wave, Lukela began speaking immediately to the precinct. And before Steve could demand an All Points Bulletin, he was already providing Danny's badge number and related information to any available police officer on the island.

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Kono laid out all of her gear on the backseat of the large truck. Sitting sideways on her right hip, she had two tablets open and churning away while simultaneously monitoring the GPS signal from Danny's cell phone. Moments later, she was pointing towards the sadly forlorn shape of a homeless woman who was struggling down the street with an over-burdened shopping cart of junk.

"You've got to be kidding me. Her?" Chin complained softly under his breath. The disgusted and disappointed sound from Steve echoed the strong sentiment.

Steve parked and dismally studied the ragged woman before heaving himself out of his truck. He needed to shelve his stress before spooking her too badly and it was obvious by her faster scurry, that she had seen them. Going wide, Chin headed her off as Steve approached from the side. And then before she could back up, Kono had her hand placed gently on the woman's skinny back.

"We need to ask you a few questions." Steve's voice was unnaturally soft as he placed a restraining hand on her shopping cart.

"I didn't do anything. I mind my own business." Her eyes were large in her dirty face as she tried to move the cart literally through Chin. She had to stop when Chin's hand joined Steve's on the rusty metal frame.

"I'd like to go now. You don't need me."

"It's okay. Just a few questions and then you can leave. Do you have a cell phone?" Steve cut to the chase quickly to forestall the inevitable and he could see the lie in her eyes before she even opened her mouth. The quick glance to a pile of dirty clothes in the corner of the wagon was much too obvious.

"Do I look like someone who has a phone?" The nasty remark was surprising and he narrowed his eyes to study her more closely, but Chin was already dialing Danny's number. Seconds later the tell-tale ring was emanating faintly from that same pile of rubbish.

"What's that then?" Steve pointed his finger and then dug deeply down towards the tune. "Sounds like a phone to me."

"Not mine. No, no. Not mine. I didn't put it there." Shaking her head in complete denial, the woman held her hand up as if warding off evil. Only Kono's strong fingers planted solidly on her back kept her from bolting away in total fear. She was trembling before pointing to the phone that Steve now held and her next words made Kono look nervously to Steve. His jaw was tight with worry and anger at the woman's too bold hint as she jealously eyed the device.

"But that guy .. he doesn't need it anymore anyway."

"Tell me about it." Steve ignored her tone as he prompted her gently. But the simple question made her dark eyes dart about for a way to escape. Losing her, he waggled the phone teasingly in front of her face.

"The guy. How do you know he doesn't need this?"

"Because he's dead." She spat out the words and then did try to leave, but Kono grabbed her arm firmly to keep her in place. Her eyes darkened more as she glanced nervously to Steve's face and then over to Chin.

"He's dead and I need to go now."

Steve felt the ice forming in the pit of his stomach as the woman escalated; he had no doubt she was at least telling some of the truth. But hopefully not all of it was truthful; or maybe, it was only an impression because it was obvious that she dearly coveted Danny's cell phone. So Steve listened to her with a bit of a filter as he memorized every word she uttered because it just could help.

"Did you see what happened?" He kept his voice level and low while her fingers nervously drummed on the shopping cart's push handles. "Tell me again why he doesn't need this."

"He doesn't need it because he's dead. I told you." She rolled her eyes as if making fun of his question and then bounced nervously on her toes. Her voice rose and then a rush of words followed.

"The Scorpion man did it .. he hit the blonde one and then the big van took him away."

"So he was taken then?" Steve felt a rush of relief. Not dead. Taken. Stepping forward, he pushed excitedly for more information and the woman quailed under his more intense gaze.

"Who is this Scorpion? What van? What color .. what else did you see?" Eyes wide, Steve's questions were almost too fast and Chin had to intervene before they lost the woman completely. Her momentary brightness was turning back to fear and walls were coming up in earnest.

"Easy, Steve. She's not coping well." His quietly soft hiss of words made Steve raise his hands to release her shopping cart. And Steve ground his teeth in frustration as truly frightened tears filled her eyes and spilled down her cheeks. With a measured intent, he forced himself to back up in order to give her a modicum of space.

"I'm sorry. My mistake. Tell me about this Scorpion." He was pleading with her to hang on just a bit longer to sanity and Kono had started to rub soothing circles on her back.

"Who is this Scorpion?" Kono repeated under breath. "Does he live around here?"

The woman's black eyes flickered over each of them before she nodded and then pointed back towards where Danny had been abducted. She put her hand on her neck and pantomimed a pattern being drawn there.

"He has a big black tattoo of a scorpion here. Ugly .. ugly .. ugly, haole. We all call him the Scorpion and no one goes near him. He's bad, bad bad."

She heaved in a shaky breath. "He did it. He hit the blonde one hard and then pushed him into the black shiny van. And then they were gone. One, two, three. Fast."

Each number was said in a sing-song voice and she pounded her wagon with her fist three times. Once for each word.

"Black van? Did you see how many there were?" Steve was almost whispering as he tried to finagle more useful information out of the homeless woman. He could see they were losing her again and praying that what she said would hold some truth.

"Nice ride. Shiny and new .. all black. But they left Scorpion man and he was mad. He yelled at them. He threw a bottle at them. But they only took the blond one." Her voice faded and she eyed Danny's cell phone that Steve had clenched so tightly in his hand.

Her fingers clawed for it and Steve put the device quickly into his pocket as her face fell woefully. "That .. he left it .. he doesn't need it anymore."

"No." Steve let the one word fall softly into the air. "No. I'm sorry."

He turned away and left the woman to Chin and Kono before taking a seat back in his truck. The absurdity of finding a tattooed junkie left him almost in a dazed stupor. His hands were beginning to shake as he pulled Danny's cell phone back out and rested it in his lap.

"What were you doing down here, Danno?" Steve closed his eyes and waited; he needed the time to sit in the stillness of his truck and gather his thoughts. Of all that she said, he refused to believe that his partner was dead. Kidnapped, certainly. But not dead.

He knew that Chin and Kono would be further calming the woman and attempting to get something else out of her. But he also knew that it would be a senseless waste of time. She had blurted out everything of value in the first few minutes; nothing else would be forthcoming. Still deep in thought, Steve held Danny's cell phone in his fingers and paged through the last used function screens. Expecting to see his own number as the last one dialed, he cursed to himself when he actually saw '911'. But the prior call was in fact to his own phone.

And then out of habit, he intended to thumb through the text messages. However, he never got passed the first one which had been received just a few seconds before Danny had called the office.

Steve's bleary eyes read the message three times before they focused hard and he truly absorbed the words.

Help.

Bar on Keeaumoku Street

Ana.

~ to be continued ~