I do not own Hawaii Five-0 or any characters. No copyright infringement intended.

Notes: I am leaving on a short business trip today. It "may" affect posting for tomorrow - but I will try to stick to my daily schedule as promised. I know you would all just "hate" getting 2 chapters in one day - if (for example) I decide it may be too hard for me to post on Thursday. You just might get two chapters today. ;-) We shall see! But then if that does happen, you will HAVE to wait until Friday for the next one.

H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O*

CHAPTER 4

Erin had been hiding in the cabinet under the sink for a very long time; and slowly becoming more and more afraid. Every so often she would peek through the slit in the small doors to watch the big doctor take care of the injured man. He was sleeping a lot more and that seemed to upset the doctor because he would use his stethoscope again and then frown unhappily. Sometimes he would tap the sleeping man's cheeks to wake him up or talk in a stern, threatening voice and that would work too.

And at first she had almost giggled when the doctor used his stethoscope to listen to the man's tummy. Erin had seen her mother's doctor do that often and she even got to listen a few times herself to the thumping thud-like sounds of her baby sister. She wanted to tell this doctor that he was silly because that sick man was a boy and boys didn't have babies!

Erin kept quiet though because the doctor was so very unhappy and sometimes even seemed to be mad; but not nearly as angry as the soldier. She tried to get comfortable by stretching her legs out and then shifted a little to sit cross-legged. Nothing worked though and as time dragged on, she got more tired and sore from sitting in the small space. Plus she knew that she was in a lot of trouble and her parents were going to be very angry with her. Feeling alone and scared, the tiny sniffle came out before she could hide it and her eyes grew in alarm as the doctor glanced curiously towards her hiding place. She scrunched down away from the door as his shadow got bigger. He was standing up now, but instead of walking over to where she was, he pulled a set of keys from his pocket. Erin could hear them jingling in his hand and his shadow moved away as he talked to the soldier.

"I'm taking more supplies from that locker." She didn't hear the soldier say anything but it must have been okay since the doctor moved to a place where she couldn't see him. A door opened and then slammed shut a few minutes later. And when he came back to the sick man, he had needles, bigger bandages and a bag that looked like it was filled with water.

Erin watched as the doctor filled the needle with medicine and injected it into the man's right arm. The bag of water then was hooked up to yet another needle that stayed in the man's left arm with white tape. At first she thought it would hurt, but the sick man soon seemed happier as his face got more calm and peaceful. She got scared though as the doctor opened up the bigger bandages, moved the blankets and she saw the blood again on the man's shirt and stomach. The doctor spent a lot of time making sure the new bandages were just right before tucking the heavy blankets back up around his shoulders. Then she watched him look carefully at the soldier like he had a secret while he filled another needle from a different vial. But instead of using that on the sick man, the doctor only showed it to him as he whispered a few words.

Unexpectedly, Erin felt tears welling and she bit back on her sobs as she became more and more scared. She figured the doctor could help her, though the soldier with the gun was definitely bad. She was confused about what to do and that made her stay in the cabinet. Especially when the bad man began to pace and yell again so very loudly. That went on for many minutes before it completely stopped and Erin wiped silent tears away in her jeans. Waiting to be sure it was really quiet outside, she used two fingers to open the door just a small bit.

The bad man was talking to himself as he stared down the corridor, but he was at least crouched down on the floor and not looking inside the room. And the doctor was back to showing the needle to the sick man who had finally woken up again. Taking a deep breath, Erin made a decision to at least let the doctor know she was there. Maybe he could tell her what to do and then take her back to her parents.

Seconds later, the big doctor was the one with the wide surprised eyes as she gave him a frightened wave. He moved away from the sick man to be closer to her hiding place which made her feel better. And when he put his fingers to his lips and pointed to the soldier, Erin didn't like it but she nodded because she understood that she needed to stay exactly where she was until he said so. Quietly, she let the door close again and sadly pulled her knees up to her chest.

H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O*

"How long has this been going on?" Steve demanded as he ran into the command center that had been hastily assembled in the TAMC parking lot. Heavily armed HPD SWAT and Army personnel were loitering as Chin, Kono and another man tried to get more information on Corporal Derrick Carter.

"Almost three hours." Kono stated quietly and she grimaced as Steve's face became an angry mask. "It took some time for Gina Hodge to get out and away from Carter. She hid in the nurse's station and waited until Carter forced Danny and Ramirez into the lab. Then she managed to drag the HPD officer close enough to an employee stairwell so Adler's team could do the rest. But no one can get further down the corridor or anywhere near that room yet."

She pointed towards the nurse that had already given as much background as she could on the situation and about Carter's confusion. Steve belatedly noticed that the woman's neck had significant bruising from where she'd been nearly throttled.

"Carter has two weapons that we know of - the HPD officer's and now Danny's revolver. It was bad enough to find out Doc Ramirez was a hostage .. but no one knew who the second person was until a little more than an hour ago." Kono hesitated a moment with her question. "Steve, why is Danny even here? We thought you both called it a day after working all night .. and then after the bust?"

Steve ran his hands over his face suddenly feeling very weary again as a headache settled full swing at the base of his skull. His reply was low and they barely caught the explanation. "I made him get checked out because he got banged up. But it was really nothing .. nothing like this."

It took a minute for him to shake it off before asking his own question. "Now you tell me. Three hours is an eternity. Why so damned long?"

"TAMC staff has access to the front desk and to all of their computer records but the E.R. was hammered today with cases. When they finally completed a head count of staff and patients, Danny came up as missing and most likely with Ramirez. The E.R. schedule put him as being in exam room five around the time this all went down," Chin explained.

"How bad is he hurt and where are they exactly?"

Kono was far from happy as she continued to fill Steve in on what they knew. "They're in a small lab at the end of a t-shaped corridor. One way in; one way out. The nurse didn't get a good look, but her impression was that Danny was hit low in the stomach. And now we have more intel from Doc Ramirez himself, that it's bad. He's asked for help as soon as possible. With only one way in or out of that side of the corridor, we have nothing to work with."

"How do we have intel? Is Carter communicating with us?" But Steve blanched at the news as Chin gestured towards the makeshift table where a map of the TAMC hospital was laid out and being assessed again. A female soldier was lost in another world with a headset on. Her face was full of a deep concentration as she not only recorded what she was listening to, but actively took a flurry of handwritten notes.

"We're sort of on the line with Ramirez. You need to meet Master Sergeant Adler though. He's assumed responsibility of TAMC security and his team notified us as soon as they determined Danny was involved."

"Thank you for that." Steve said with sincerity as he shook hands with the older, balding and heavily geared-up man that had been meeting with Chin and Kono. "What can you tell me about all of this?"

Adler pointed to the facility map. "First, we obviously have protocol to follow here .. this is a hospital. The good news is that the situation is contained and everyone in the immediate vicinity has been evacuated. But most of our standard methods can't be used as you well know. No flash-bangs; no tear gas .. no gas of any kind because of the ventilation system."

A photo of the soldier was tossed under Steve's nose as Adler continued. "Carter's just back from deployment. He was gravely injured by an IED approximately six months ago and suffered a traumatic brain injury. He's a good guy but the TBI changed his personality and he can be aggressive. He angers easily and becomes physical .. unreasonably violent.. at the drop of a hat."

Steve grimaced since the growing pile of information about Carter continued to complicate even talking the man down with a hostage negotiator. Of which, Adler explained such a negotiator was in the building that very minute trying to reason with the confused soldier. He tried to listen patiently as Adler continued describing the man's recent history. "According to what we know today, an HPD officer found him this morning in an alley. He was unconscious and had been beaten. We're assuming a bar brawl where he was unfortunately hit in the head with a blunt object."

Steve looked up as Duke Lukela entered the tented area in the parking lot. "That same Officer escorted Carter here as a courtesy. When the Corporal came around in the trauma area, he grabbed my officer's weapon and shot him .. that's when he grabbed the nurse and things spiraled out of control. He seems to be in the middle of a severe flash-back."

He shook his head as he envisioned the probable scene when both Danny and Ramirez reacted to the sound of gunfire. Trying to help and defuse the situation, things had taken a turn for the worse and though the nurse had gotten out, both men were now being held hostage by the confused Army Corporal.

"Where does Carter think he is?" Steve asked. "We need to shut this down and it sounds like there are limited options if he does have violent tendencies. Has there been progress with the negotiator? "

In the back of his mind, he knew that Danny had almost no time left based on what Chin said. He was thankful that at least his friend was with Ramirez and would likely have some professional care. But time was of the essence and the longer this took, the worse it would become not only for Danny but also for Ramirez ... and Carter.

"It sounds like he's back at his barracks in Iraq." Chin pointed towards the woman with the headset sitting near them and it was obvious now that she was listening intently to the chatter. "The Doc answered my call to Danny's cell and he left the connection open. We've been listening in as best as possible for about forty-five minutes now. That's how we know Danny's injury is definitely serious, plus Carter was wounded in the leg. The soldier thinks that the enemy has infiltrated the barracks and he's waiting for reinforcements and more medical supplies. He's put himself on point, wants a chopper evac, and declared that he's going to keep both his medic and injured Sergeant safe at all costs."

Stepping forward, Adler began to describe what the joint teams might do based on the limited space and the state of the hostages. But Steve reacted to Chin's information immediately by holding up his finger and leaving the staging tent. Jogging back to his truck, he pulled out his duffel bag which held his camo gear and then found a place to completely change his attire.

"At least he thinks they're the good guys." Steve said when he came back. "I want a summary of everything else you know.. I'm going in. What we can leverage is the expertise of our hostages and what the man is asking for. I need a pack of medical equipment for Ponch. Have that nurse Gina pull it together."

At first no one reacted to his startling announcement, not even Adler, until a hand snuck up from behind to take a firm hold of his forearm.

"Fine. But I'm going too." Steve turned to come face to face with Ellen Ramirez, the doctor's second wife. Ellen also worked at Tripler and was an experienced head nurse in the intensive care unit. Her hand tightened on his arm as she made her demand clear. "Don't even try to argue with me, Steve."

He managed a brief grin as he studied the determined face. Ellen had met her husband long after he had returned from a number of tours in Korea. Based on what he knew of her own extensive military background and the mere fact of whom she had willingly married, Steve had no doubts that she could easily handle herself. Plus her husband could use her skills in caring for Danny if they couldn't put an end to the situation quickly.

"Good. Go change .. we're now both active Army Corps medics and have a role to play." Steve hesitated as he loaded two small guns and packed extra ammunition. "But Ellen, this will be fast and aggressive. We need to take this head on and end it quickly."

Ellen raised an eyebrow but only turned to speak with the Master Sargeant asking for two particular weapons of her own. "Is this wise?" The man started to argue with his hands spread wide. "Listen .. Commander McGarrrett, with all due respect. You only just got here a few minutes ago and my team has a decent plan of action to bring this to a satisfactory end. The negotiator is doing a damned fine job and he understands Carter's history .. we just need a reprieve .. we need Carter to give us something."

The two measured each other briefly before Steve shrugged and smiled. "Feel free to stick to your plans if mine don't work. But I only see one way to go if that negotiator hasn't gotten anywhere in .. what? How long has he been at it?"

"Forty minutes." Kono blurted with some annoyance flashing across her face. "Forty minutes .. and we've got nothing."

"And there we have it." The challenge was blunt as Steve stared down the Master Sergeant. "We give him what he's asked for .. we use a very small team, geared up to look medical and we work directly with him."

"Meaning you of course?" Adler stated with a frown as Steve's expression clearly said that was obvious. "And what if your idea completely fails?"

Everyone shifted uncomfortably in the small tent as the two continued to square off. But Steve was adamant and fully believed what he said as Ellen smiled in agreement. "It won't."

The small group was forced to put a stop to their argument as a new voice began shouting just outside the staging tent. "I need to speak to someone in charge!"

Steve angrily strode out quickly coming face to face with an obviously distressed Army Lieutenant named McRaney. "What's the problem?"

"My daughter is missing. My wife is in labor .. she called me hours ago and it's Erin .. we can't find her. She's still inside. She has to be." Chin made a face as he pulled out the hospital's roster again.

"McRaney. Your wife was moved to another side of the hospital and is confirmed as being in safe hands. There's no notation about an Erin McRaney .. are you sure?" Chin asked, but it was obvious the lieutenant was already well aware of that fact as he tried to remain reasonable with the staging teams. "We've been listening in on the room with the hostages and we know what we're dealing with ..there's two hostages. Both adult men. No one else is in there."

"Erin is only six years old. I'm not surprised that she's not on that list. But she's here." The lieutenant interrupted Chin and practically shouted the words with upset, worried eyes that Steve realized would rival Danny's best 'don't mess with me' father expression. And then, McRaney added a finger that slammed into Steve's own chest for emphasis.

"We've already looked everywhere for her! And I'm telling you that she's in there because it's the only place left, and I'm getting her out."

Seconds later the woman monitoring the open cell phone signal was waving them back in. She pressed a button to switch to a loud conference speaker. They all heard Ramirez's strident voice and McRaney grabbed Steve's shoulder.

"I have a little girl. She likes to wear different color nail polish and play hide and seek. She's very brave ... and very, very good at hiding."

McRaney's eyes darkened in a combination of fear and determination as everyone stilled inside the staging tent. "He means Erin. That's proof she's in there with them. But it doesn't sound like this Corporal Carter knows .. yet."

"Damn it. How did she get in that room?" Steve groaned as he scrubbed at his face and McRaney began to implode before his very eyes. "This changes everything. We have another hostage, people."

~ to be continued ~