Told you I'd be back quickly... *grins* Thanks for all the reviews! I was humbled by how successful the first chapter was!

I'd also like to thank a reviewer 4thofFive, s/he noticed I'd changed the name of my Montana Warden at the end of the last chapter. His name IS Josey, problem is I was toying around with a billion different name combinations when I wrote it and when I posted the chapter I neglected to change all of the parts where I had his name. I've since fixed the previous chapter and hope I didn't confuse anyone too much with that.

To my other reviewers, honestly some of you are juggernaut writers on this fan sight and the fact that you're reviewing my stuff and enjoying it is the highlight of my day. To the others that are readers, you're what makes people like me want to keep pumping out pieces like this. I work retail, appreciation in any way shape or form, big or small is a shot of adrenaline.

Thank you peeps... I mean that.

Enjoy the next installment!

Oz

"Get off me! GET OFF ME!"

Twelve hours had been a long time to wait but Danny figured it was well worth it. After their exciting find in the jungle the team had quickly gotten their prize to a hospital so that doctor's could take care the Warden and get him healthy enough to speak to them.

Speaking which apparently the man was now having no problem doing. As Danny and Steve approached the guarded hospital room where the man had been laid to recuperate they'd heard him hollering as soon as they stepped off the elevator. The two Five-0 partner's picked up their pace a bit to find out what exactly the problem was.

In the past twelve hours with little else to go on, they'd wrapped up the crime scene in the jungle then headed back to town for some food and rest. Turned out Warden Lafayette had pretty good aim despite his condition and had shot his attacked center mass right through the heart. When Danny finally stopped his partner from bleeding all over the place and put him in the hands of paramedics, he'd gone to check the body for himself.

What he found was a man dressed from head to toe in jungle cammo. He had a very expensive looking state of the art crossbow as well as a few hunting knives and a powerful hand gun in a thigh holster. The problem was their dead bad guy had absolutely nothing in terms of identification or identifying marks. There was little Danny could do but make sure the body could get back to Max in hopes that the ME could discover who this man was. That and he'd sent the weapons to the lab in small hopes that they could be traced. He doubted it though; he'd seen the scratch marks where a serial number had clearly been sanded off the crossbow.

Back at the office two hours ago Steve had shown up with gauze wrapped around his arm and a frown on his face. Thirteen stitches and a few shots of antibiotics and boosters had the Navy SEAL quite grumpy and wanting answers. Mercifully his wrath wasn't too bad as he, like the rest of the team had taken a few hours to go home, sleep, change and handle any personal business. They all knew now that they had a survivor things would probably get complicated quite quickly.

"Doc you put that in my IV and I'll put YOU in the ground!" Danny and Steve stepped through the Warden's hospital room door to find two beefy nurses holding him down while a doctor prepared a syringe.

"It won't knock you out Warden, just help you to calm down a bit," the doctor explained.

"S'ere a problem here?" Steve asked with authority.

"You! You two were at the grow op!" Josey Lafayette exclaimed as he struggled to free himself. "Tell them to let me go! Tell them to- No! Doc! NO!" The doctor was quick and while the Warden was momentarily distracted he pushed the contents of his syringe into the man's IV port. "God damn it doc I told you I... I... Oh... whoa that stuff works fast..." Lafayette practically melted back onto his hospital bed as his eyes glazed with the powerful pull of whatever drugs he'd just been given.

A few drugged blinks later and the man seemed to regain his sense of self and rouged a bit with embarrassment.

"Uh... sorry," he said. "I just... I need to get back out there." That was the last thing Danny had expected to hear from the man who'd collapsed in relief that he'd finally found safety from the jungle.

"You're a lucky man Warden Lafayette, the arrow in your shoulder wasn't too deep and aside from the deep bruising you'll make a full recover... IF you take the time to rest and take care of yourself," the doctor replied with a warning tone.

"I can rest when I'm dead," Lafayette replied without hesitation. Once again his eyes found Danny and Steve's. "You're cops?"

"Five-0," Steve replied. "I'm Commander Steve McGarrett and this is my partner Detective Danny Williams. It's good to see you're going to be okay Warden."

"Josey Lafayette... though I think I told you that already," the man replied. He frowned and looked away, "I was pretty messed up for a while there."

"Understandably," Danny nodded. "Doc could you give us a minute?"

"My patient needs rest Detective, something I've been trying to get him to do for the last few hours... try not to take to long please," the doctor requested.

"Five minutes, we swear," Steve promised. The doctor gave him a raised eyebrow before he and the nurses stepped out of the room leaving the three men alone. For a moment, Danny just watched the bruised and bandaged man. Josey Lafayette looked like a sturdy guy, that combined with his knowledge of the wilderness was probably what led to the man's survival.

Lafayette in turn seemed to eyeball first Danny and then Steve before settling himself a little more on the hospital bed with a heavy sigh and running his hand through his hair.

"This is so messed up," he heaved.

"To say the least," Danny couldn't help but reply. Thankfully the Warden gave a short chuckle at that but went serious again.

"There's others, I'm not the only one out there and we all promised each other if we found help we'd come back for the others," Lafayette explained.

"We know about the others," Steve said. "You say you saw them and spoke to them?"

"Yeah," the injured man nodded. "It was something out of a horror movie. There were cages."

"Do you know where?" Danny asked. Lafayette shook his head angrily.

"Couldn't point to it on a map if that's what you're asking," he replied. "One minute I'm hiking to a call in Montana, next thing I know I'm in a cage in a dark room. There were thirteen other cages from what I could see..." Suddenly Lafayette stopped talking, his eyes going wide and snapping back and forth between Danny and Steve. "There were six others, they never came back. Are they... did they..." The Warden worked his jaw a bit and closed his eyes as a single tear slid down his cheek. "They're dead, aren't they?"

"I'm sorry," was all Danny could think to say.

"Josey we'll be honest, you're the first rock solid lead we've had on this case," Steve admitted. "Anything you can tell us about where you were being held, how you got there, if you saw anyone other than the other Wardens, would really help us get the other guys back."

"You survived," Danny added. "Which means I'm sure they can too, no more death, yeah?"

"Yeah," Lafayette nodded giving himself a moment to compose himself. Done with his pause, Lafayette pulled back his bed sheets to reveal his left leg that had three impressive and gruesome very deep jagged scars. It was clear they were caused by some sort of animal and they weren't a result of his abduction as they appeared quite old.

"Wow," Steve said no stranger to scars himself. "Bear?"

"Mountain lion," Josey replied. "You know the sighting of a Cougar is extremely rare enough in Montana, let alone getting attacked by one. I was checking for pouching traps three days into the job after by probationary period was over and the damn thing appears out of thin air and just launches itself at me." They were getting way of topic but Danny had a gut feeling the man needed to get this story out to help him process what had happened to him. "I had stumbled a little to close to mama Cougar's layer and she wasn't too pleased with me being near her kids. I managed to stun her with the butt of my rifle and high-tail it out of there. Barely remember getting back to my truck and calling for help while wrapping the wound as best I could."

"That's hell of a story," Steve said sounding genuinely impressed.

"Eight hours before they got me to a hospital, seven hours of surgery and six months of recovery but I made it," Lafayette smiled sadly. There was a pregnant pause before the Warden covered up his leg again and looked at the two members of Five-0 again. "I'm going with you to find those other guys," he said firmly. Steve sighed;

"I appreciate you wanting to help, Josey but-"

"You don't get it," Lafayette cut him off. "I told you I can't just point at a map and show you where I was being held but I have memorized the terrain. When they sent me out for the hunt I managed found that grow op and figured if I could just stay close to it, circle it eventually someone would show up and I could get help."

"Smart man," Danny nodded.

"Not smart enough, I got caught didn't I?" Lafayette asked. "That hunter... he dead too?"

"Very," Steve nodded.

"Good," the Warden hissed. "I don't know how many of them there were but there were three of them who dealt directly with us. They always had cammo or ski masks on so we never saw their faces but once they'd pick one of us for the hunt we usually wouldn't see them for a few days."

"I gotta ask; how did "the hunt" work?" Danny asked. The Warden visibly shuddered before explaining.

"We were all brought in unconscious except the last guy," he said. "They'd usually give a guy a day or two once he regained consciousness before they'd tag him and haul him out."

"Tag?" Steve asked. Lafayette nodded before rolling his arm showing a few small puncture wounds all in a line.

"Literally, they'd put a tracking band around our arms stitching it closed into our skin," he explained. "I managed to get mine off, sorry I didn't hold onto it."

"Don't worry about it, the information still helps," Steve encouraged. Nodding the Warden carried on;

"They'd pull us out of the cage, tag us, beat the holy hell out of us then drag us from the room," he told them. "They blindfold us, march us into the woods for a while then gave us one simple order."

"What was that?" Danny asked.

"Run," Lafayette said with a distant gaze in his eyes. "Just like that... "RUN"." Once again it seemed the man needed to take a pause to collect himself; it was longer this time and after a minute Danny stepped closer to the man's hospital bed.

"Hey, you made it out alive okay?" he said bringing the man back to reality. "And we will get the others."

"Yeah," Lafayette nodded though he didn't look all that convinced. "I was put out to the hunt three times."

"Three times? They'd catch you and bring you back?" Steve asked incredulously.

"Yeah... never thought they ones who came back to the cages were actually the lucky ones," the Warden sighed. "I mean... we all knew there was no way they'd let us go but... we'd hoped... Damn, those guys had family. Wives and kids. I don't have anybody waiting for me back home, why the hell do I get to live and they don't?"

"You lived because we need your help saving the others," Steve stated firmly. "And to bring justice for those we couldn't save. Now you said the last guy was brought in conscious?" He pulled out his cell phone and brought up the picture of Warden McCabe and turning it to Lafayette. "Is this him?"

"That's him," Lafayette nodded. "Took all three guys to haul him into his cage kicking and screaming all the way. Got a pretty good shot in on one of the guys, broke his nose I think. I didn't get the guys name because I was taken out at the same time. Three hunts, that's all we got and I was on my third run. Guys didn't come back after that and deep down I knew that guy was my replacement for when "I" didn't come back. Look, I made it through the jungle because believe it or not two years ago I took a survival course in Costa Rica... ironic right? All the guys on the force made fun of me for but I bet they'd eat their words now. What I'm saying is, I don't care if I'm missing a limb right now, I need to be with you guys out there. You're right; I survived so I can help those other guys and that guy..." Lafayette pointed to Steve's cell phone. "I'm goina bet he ain't going to get three hunts after what he did to one of our captors. Faster we get going better chance he has of living." Danny looked at his partner whose brow was furrowed in deep consideration.

"And if we say no?" Steve replied. The Warden sat up as best he could and raised an eyebrow.

"I go it alone," he replied. "So you can either get me my damn pants or get out of my damn way." Danny couldn't help himself; he snorted back a laugh and shook his head.

"Sounds like your kind of guy, Steve," he grinned. Steve just rolled his eyes and folded his arms across his broad chest giving Lafayette a hard stare.

"I'm not getting rid of you, am I?" he said clearly caving to the brave man's tenacity.

"Some psycho's abducted me, flew me into the middle of the pacific, tagged me like a game animal and tried to kill me more than once with a crossbow... No, you're not getting rid of me," the Warden challenged. Danny laughed again clapping his hands together.

"Let's get you some pants then," he replied drawing a genuine smile from battered Warden.

Twenty-four hours later, Steve, Danny and Lafayette headed back into the jungle starting at the grow op where several Warden's and H.P.D. offered to go with them. Steve and Danny had declined the offer for a few reasons; the main one being they had no idea how far or how long they'd be travelling and it would be easier with a small group.

Danny was just finishing lacing up one of his hiking boots (a gift from Steve after their last jungle foray) when Steve disconnected his sat phone and walked toward he and Lafayette.

"Chin says the lab couldn't pull up anything on the crossbow and there's still running facial rec on our dead guy, no hits yet," he explained.

"Doubt they'll get anything," Lafayette huffed. He was still a little pale but Danny guessed the idea of getting the job done was allowing the man to focus and be ready for anything. "I get the feeling the only constant ones were our three captors, the guy I shot, he was just a hunter I'd never seen him before."

"You think those three were just collecting Wardens so others could hunt you?" Danny asked. The Warden nodded.

"Could have been more but I do remember the three guys talking about money," he replied. "One day they didn't close the door to the place we were in, couldn't see out but we could hear them. They mentioned something about a money transfer and increasing their prices. Two of them were arguing about something getting "too expensive"."

"Can't be cheap flying an abducted man all the way from the mainland to here," Danny nodded. "Maybe that's why they decided to grab someone local."

"Probably," Steve agreed. "Alright, we don't know how far were going so we should get to it. Last chance Josey, you sure you're up for this?" The Warden gave him a look before hefting his backpack gingerly over his injured back and walking into the jungle.

"Think that's a yes," Danny replied to his partner. Then oddly he felt a twist in his gut and felt a need to add, "Hey Steve?"

"What's up?"

"Let's be smart about this okay? We find where they're being kept and we call for back up," he said. Steve gave him a curious look before giving an award winning and cocky smile.

"You got nothing to worry about buddy," he replied. "I'm always by the book." Danny gave his partner a blank un-amused look before Steve burst out laughing and jogged to catch up with Lafayette.

Four hours later the three men came to a stop, they were in pretty dense jungle but it was clear the area had been disturbed.

"This is where they took the blindfold off," Lafayette explained. Danny, who was sweating despite it not being very hot out, took a sip of his water and shrugged.

"Starting point at least," he replied. Then he looked at Steve who'd pulled out his GPS tracker and was checking it. "Where are we?" he asked.

"Not a place to get lost, that's where we are," he replied. "With the dense foliage and our location... there'd be no way anyone could be spotted from the air here and that goes for a good several miles in every direction."

"Lovely," Danny breathed. Lafayette meanwhile had closed his eyes and tilted his head to the canopy above him. A moment later he opened his eyes and pointed just over Steve's shoulder.

"That way... I'm sure we came through there," he replied.

"You're sure?" Steve asked. The Warden nodded before heading over to that area and crouching down looking at something on the ground.

"It's a good thing it's been raining," he replied. "See... it's a boot heel, and it's coming from this direction. Considering I was barefoot, this is got to be one of the guys that brought me out here."

"So we've got a track?" Danny asked.

"We've got a track," Lafayette nodded triumphantly. He pulled himself to his feet as Steve and Danny joined him.

"All we need to do now is follow the signs of disturbance and hopefully it'll lead us right to the others," Steve said. "Nice work man."

"Tell me that when we get the other guys back," Lafayette replied.

"I will," Steve replied confidently. "Come on."

It was another three hours of hiking and mid afternoon and just when Danny was convinced they couldn't possibly get any further into the jungle when Steve slowed them to a stop and held a finger to his lips signaling quiet. Doing as instructed, the two men waited in silence for the SEAL to do something. A moment later he tapped his ear then pointed through a batch of thick leaves. Danny almost held his breath and listened as best he could and sure enough he heard mumbled voices. What was being said he had no idea but it was clear there were people nearby.

"Wait here," Steve whispered to Lafayette. The Warden screwed his face into a frown and looked ready to protest but Danny cut him off.

"We can't just go charging in there," he said as quietly as possible. "Let us check it out and we'll come back for you." With a roll of the eyes, the Warden relented, took off his back pack and hid himself in the bushes. Certain he was secure; Steve and Danny proceeded quietly the final few meters through the terrain before finally coming to a clearing.

They made sure to keep themselves well hidden as they took in the oddly out of place scene before them. Danny raised an eyebrow in surprise, they were in the middle of no where and yet there was a small cement building with a door that was slightly ajar.

"An abandoned bunker," Steve whispered. Danny just nodded not willing to make more noise than necessary. "We need to get in there and find the Wardens."

"No, we need to call for back up," he replied. "It's going to take at least a few hours bef-" Danny was silenced by Steve suddenly motioning for him to be quiet. Not a moment to soon it turned out as two men emerged from the door in jungle cammo.

"We've got that Russian team coming in at midnight," the taller man said to the other. "Wire transfer has gone through but now they're saying they want two instead of just one."

"Well tell them no," the short man said. "It's too much of a liability to have two tags out there at once. Need I remind you the we've still got two tags and two hunters already in the field? The first guy should have already been back by now." Danny's rage flared as he listened to the two men talk about the Wardens as if they were just something to be used for amusement. One look at Steve and he knew the Navy SEAL was equally as pissed off.

"We still got paid, who cares? Besides, even if the tag did manage to get the hunter the elements probably got him," the tall guy said. "Think about it, the Russians said they'd triple the price if we gave them two at once." For Danny the bonus was it appeared as though these guys hadn't been into the city recently and had no idea Lafayette was still alive. It was becoming obvious that Five-0 and their survivor's quick thinking was just what the case needed to get the jump on the bad guys.

"We're not wasting two tags on one hunt alright? Now go give the animals some water, last thing we need is them dying in their cells," the short guy replied. The tall man shook his head but disappeared back through the door while the short guy pulled out a cigarette. Danny turned to Steve who was carefully pulling out his sat phone; he switched it on but then frowned.

"No signal," he whispered. Danny's gut clenched with concern.

"It's a sat phone, how the hell is there no signal?" he whispered back harshly.

"Maybe because we made damn sure to have all signals jammed for a quarter mile," said a voice loud and clear from behind them. The snick-snick of a gun hammer stopped both of them dead in their tracks. "Turn around slowly and back into the clearing." Danny and Steve both did as they were told and came face to face with another man dressed in jungle cammo. This guy however, had two impressive black eyes, no doubt Warden McCabe's handy-work.

"That looks like it hurts," Danny grinned. The man sneered at him before raising his gun and jabbing it harshly into Danny's chest.

"Move!" he ordered. The two members of Five-0 did as they were told and soon the shorter man caught sight of them.

"The hell!?" he exclaimed.

"Caught them snooping around in the bushes," the man with black eyes explained. "Get on your knees!" When Steve and Danny were slow to respond the shorter man pulled out a gun and slammed it into the detective's stomach. Instantly winded Danny dropped down on all fours trying to catch his breath.

"HEY!" Steve hollered. "Take it easy!"

"You aren't calling the shots here tough guy," the short one replied. "Search'em." The black eyed man handed off his gun and while Danny struggled to breathe he felt himself getting patted down and relieved of his weapon, wallet and cell.

"Shit," black eyes said. "Five-0." He said as he tossed both Steve and Danny's belongings onto the grass in front of them.

"That's right, we know you three are the ones abducting Wardens and hunting them for sport," Steve said bravely. "Give yourselves up and no one else has to get hurt." Danny silently sent up a prayer hoping the guys would just play nice but deep down he knew that wasn't going to happen. The two men barked out a laugh before the short man suddenly and violently pistol whipped Steve in the face causing the SEAL to fall to the ground.

"Whoa! Come on! Steve? Steve y'alright?" Danny asked. His partner moaned before getting back to his knees and spitting out a mouthful of blood.

"M'okay," he slurred a bit. "So what happens now?"

"Now? You pigs die," the short man replied. Danny's heart raced as he closed his eyes when the gun was pressed to his forehead. He heard the hammer pull back and could only see Grace's smiling face. He had to make sure she would be the last thing he thought about before he died.

"Don't do this," Steve exclaimed. "Don't DO this!"

All of a sudden everything happened at once. The third man appeared from inside the bunker carrying a crossbow and let out a startled cry at the scene before him. At the same time, gun fire erupted from the tree line winging the man with black eyes and causing the other two to dive for cover.

"Go, go, go!" Steve yelled. He hauled Danny to his feet and the raced back towards the trees as the three men collected themselves and started firing back. A hot pain flared up the detective's side but he was damned if he'd let it slow him down. They crashed through the foliage where Lafayette was waiting behind a thick tree trunk, gun in hand. He fired a few shots before smiling at them.

"Bet you guys are glad I followed," he smiled.

"You have no idea," Danny wheezed as he leaned against his own tree.

"We gotta get out of here and we got t- Aaaah!" While Danny and Lafayette had been relatively sheltered by the woods, Steve had been out in the open.

Out in the open and in the line of fire.

"STEVE!" Danny managed to leap forward and just catch the Navy SEAL who now had an arrow sticking through his side just above his hip. It had pierced through his back and stuck out low on his front left side.

"Oooh, god... son of… bitch," Steve hissed clearly in pain.

"We will find you piggies!" came a holler through the air. Danny and Lafayette met eyes, the Warden's gaze filled with a bone chilling fear. He knew what they were up against, he'd seen it first hand and now they were right back in it.

As if to add to the absurd theatrics of their situation, the skies chose that moment to open up yet again and the fat rain drops started to pour down on their heads. At that moment, as footsteps came closer to their position all Danny could think of was one single word;

"RUN!" he screeched. With Steve's weight between them the two men dashed, as fast as they could, even deeper into the unknown.

So uh... yeah. Come on! Read my other stories and you know I love my cliffhangers! Hope you liked this one as much as the last chapter and thanks again for reading. Favs are loved, reviews are awesome, PM's rock my world. *takes a bow*

Stay tuned for the conclusion!

Oz