Steve stood in front of room 622. He paused for a second and then knocked. The door opened and Governor Denning stood before him just inside the room. "Steve…thanks for coming"
He stood aside and Steve walked past him. His eyes instantly fell on the three men in the room, all obviously Feds.

Holding his hands out he looked back over his shoulder at Denning, asking "What is this?"
"Please take a seat Steve"
Steve's eyes were steely, "No, I'm fine Governor. I've got one of my men fighting for his life across town. What is so important that you pulled me away from him?"

"Matt Williams"
The name took Steve's breath away and he said softly, "What about him? What's happened to Matt, is he alright?"
One of the three men responded, "We don't know Commander McGarrett"
"What do you mean, you don't know? Who in the hell are you?"
The man extended his hand to Steve, "I'm Spencer Carmichael from WitSec and these are my men Bryan Holbrick and Marty Anderson. I'm sorry to tell you that Matthew Williams has been kidnapped by members of the Ocinco/Cordoba drug cartel"

"Shit...this is because of Robbie isn't it Sam?"
"I think so…..I don't know how else they could have found him"
"It was the right thing to do. There was no other choice"
"I'm not disagreeing with you, but you all knew we were taking a huge risk"
"After the treatment you assigned extra security to him, so tell me what happened?"

Carmichael spoke next, "Two days ago, Matthew was abducted as he left work. His two member security team was found dead in their car by another employee and we then viewed the abduction on the security camera. Facial recognition identified one of the men as Pedro Ocinco, the son of Felipe Ocinco. We immediately put out an APB on the vehicle they were driving but we've had no luck locating it. Yesterday Sebastian Cordoba phoned FBI Headquarters with his terms"

"You're certain it was Cordoba?"
"Yes, we ran voice prints, it's him"
"Okay….so what do they want?"
"They want you McGarrett"
"Then take me to them"
Denning moved closer, "It's not that easy Steve"
"Seems pretty easy to me Governor…..let's do this"

Denning took a seat on the bed and faced Steve, "We've been discussing some plans on how best to do this…"
The SEAL interrupted, his steely glare meeting Sam Denning's, "There's only one way to do this Sam"

Steve knew this day would come…..he and Danny BOTH knew this day would come. Now with all that was happening in Danny's life with Gracie…..and now Chin… he knew he had to do this alone, without his parnter. He had to save Matt once again.

505050505050505050505050

Danny was talking to Rachel in the corner of the waiting room, filling her in on what had happened and on Chin's condition.
A horrible uneasiness overwhelmed her as she watched him. She could tell from Danny's wild hand movements that he was upset, it was the Italian in him! The last few months had been very hard on Danny as Rachel and Stan prepared for their upcoming move to Nevada. Stan's job was transferring him and the thought of being away from his daughter weighed heavily on the Jersey detective. Danny had decided to fight his ex for physical custody and their conversations had become infrequent and quite contentious. He hung up the phone and rejoined Kono who had brought him a fresh cup of coffee.

He smiled at her as he sat and picked up the steaming java, "Thank you"
"You're welcome. Do you want to talk about it Danny?"
"There's not much to say. Every incident Kono…..every incident gives Rachel more ammunition against me. Maybe she's right. It could just as easily been me, or any one of us, to take that bullet. And two good cops are dead….is this the life I want for Gracie? Am I being fair to her?"

Kono reached over and took his hand into his, "You're a cop Danny. You were a cop when Rachel married you. How can she pretend like these dangers are new…they haven't changed"
"You're right, the dangers haven't changed but the consequences of the dangers have increased. If something happens to me now….it's not about just me anymore Kono" He looked at the clock up on the wall and added, "What time did Steve leave?"

"About an hour ago. He'll be back soon"
"I hope so. I think I'll call him" Danny dialed Steve cell, sighing as the call rolled straight to voicemail.
"No answer?"
"I'm not liking this Kono….something doesn't feel right"

50505050505050505050505050

Back in the hotel room Steve had sat quietly for several minutes collecting his thoughts. He remembered everything like it was yesterday. When Matt had taken off from that little airport two and a half years ago it was thought that Danny would never see his brother again. Then a little more than a year later Matty called…..he had gotten himself into gambling trouble and was deep in debt, half-a-million dollars deep, with the vicious Ocinco drug cartel out of Columbia. He could still remember the physical pain he had endured as he had come close to dying while saving Matt. His physical pain was nothing though…..nothing compared to the emotional pain that Danny had endured. Danny had suffered severe guilt after allowing Matt to leave the country and when he returned with a bounty on his head, all those terrible wounds were re-opened. In the process of keeping Matt alive, Steve had killed Ocinco's nephew, Freddy and Danny had killed his cousin, David Rojas. Matt's testimony had put Felipe Ocinco behind bars for life and Steve was able to pull enough strings to get Matt into the Witness Protection Program and he was relocated to Washington State under an alias. But know they all had bounties on their heads. Sebastian Cordoba had been Ocinco's number one Lieutenant. He was another cousin of Ocinco….and unfortunately even more evil and power hungry than Ocinco.

The only communication Matt had maintained with his family was a monthly letter that would come from his alias 'Sam Turner' to Steve. Then three months ago Robbie became ill and everything changed. Robbie is Danny and Matt's nephew, their sister Tracey's oldest son. At eleven years old he was diagnosed with leukemia and upon testing all family members, Uncle Matt was determined to be the best match for a bone marrow transplant. NOBODY had hesitated at all in deciding that the risks did not matter, they had to do everything possible to save the child's life. A Jersey based WitSec Agent had flown Tracey and Robbie to Washington State and the bone marrow transplant had been performed. It appeared to have been a success as Robbie's health had rebounded and he was currently in remission. The risks they had taken had been worth it…no matter what happened now, as long as Robbie lived, the risks had been worth it.

They had known that Cordoba had been rebuilding the cartel and now the time for vengeance had apparently arrived. Steve would do whatever he needed to do to find Matt Williams, to rescue him and to bring him back to his family.

Steve turned to Governor Denning, "So tell me Sam, what are Cordoba's terms"
"He wants you, Danny and the 500K…...that's it"
"No plane or chopper….no escape route?"
"No ...nothing else"
"Where am I supposed to be, and when?"
"At the northern entrance of Mt. Baker National Forest tomorrow morning at ten. The area is in Northern Washington meaning the Canadian border is probably their escape route. I don't like this McGarrett. Why did they go after Matt first? He had more protection, wouldn't it have been smarter to come after you two first?"

"These guys are smart….they knew taking us first wouldn't work. The government wouldn't give up Matt, not to save our lives. They knew by grabbing Matt first, we would cooperate"

"We need to move quick Steve. I wanted to talk to you before pulling Danny in"
"You're NOT going to pull Danny in"
"Are you sure about this? Cordoba was firm on his terms"
"I'm very sure about this. They're going to have to settle for me, they're not getting Danny. Do you have the money ready?"
"Yes, but I don't think sending you in alone the best way to do this"
"Governor, it's the only way it's going to be done"
"And how do you figure you're going to pull this off alone? These guys are brutal Steve"
Steve sighed before continuing, "Danny's going through some tough times right now. I don't want him to know anything about this until I have Matt safe. Do you understand me Governor?"

"And how am I supposed to keep this from him?"
"I need your help. It's not going to be easy, and he may never forgive me…..but it's the only way"

****** I hope you all are enjoying the story so far. Hopefully the information I provided in this chapter is enough to help you understand where I'm going with this - please let me know what you think and feel free to check out Brother Matt for more back story ! ******