by Patricia Engel

Steve McGarrett, head of the Five-O unit had received a summons from the Governor. Steve entered the Governor’s office.

The Governor smiled at Steve. “Sit down Steve.”

Steve sat down and waited patiently for the Governor to continue.

“I’ve had a call from an old friend of mine, Charles Townsend. He runs a Detective Agency. He has three young women who work for him as investigators, Sabrina Duncan, Kelly Garrett, and Kris Munroe.”

Steve nodded, wondering where the Governor was going with this.

The phone rang just then. The Governor put the call on his speaker phone. “Aloha, Charles.”

“Aloha, Paul.”

“Charles, I have Steve McGarrett in my office right now. Steve this is Charles Townsend. Charles this is Steve McGarrett.”

“Mr. McGarrett. Paul has spoken very highly of you. I hope that you can help me,” Charlie addressed Steve.

“I’ll try. What’s the problem?”

“Last year, one of my investigators quit the agency and her sister was hired in her place. Anyway, now this ex-investigator is missing. We believe that she may have been kidnapped. My three investigators are already there in Honolulu waiting to hear from you, Mr. McGarrett. Can you help me?” Charlie asked.

“Once I learn more about this, then we’ll see,” Steve commented.

“Okay. Fair enough,” was Charles reply.

“One other thing, Mr. Townsend.”

“Please call me Charles.”

“Okay, Charles. I want you to make it very clear to your investigators that I am fully in charge of the investigation since it has occurred on my turf. I have no problems with fully cooperating with them and I would hope they will do the same,” Steve said in his full authoritative voice.

“I agree with you and I will speak to them. They are currently staying at the Ilikai Hotel.”

They said ‘Goodbye’ and terminated the conversation.

Steve then turned to the Governor. “I’ll keep in touch, sir, and let you know how the investigation goes.” Then Steve left the Governor’s office for his own.

Steve entered his office and called Danny, Kono, and Chin to come into his office. “I’ve just come from a meeting with the Governor. A friend of his, Charles Townsend, wants us to help him with a problem. An ex-investigator of his, Jill Munroe, is missing and is believed to be kidnapped. That’s all the information I’ve been given so far.”

He looked at his men for any response, “I’m going to the Ilikai to meet with these investigators. Three young women.” Then he turned to Danno, “I’d like to have you accompany me, Danno.”

Danny tried to suppress a smile, while the other two men laughed. “Sure Steve. I’ll be happy to.”

Steve sighed and told the other two to continue with what they were doing. Then he and Danno left for the Ilikai.

They were surprised when they entered the hotel room, they hadn’t expected them to be quiet so young. Steve instantly regretted bringing Danny with him, because he became very interested in the women, and Steve had to literally hit him over the head to bring his attention back to business. But Steve was having his own problems. One of the women had caught his eye too.

Her name when they were introduced was Kelly Garrett. He found her to be beautiful. He was beginning to think that this assignment might be more interesting than he had first thought.

“Please sit down. My name is Sabrina Duncan,” then she gestured at her two companions in turn as she continued, “and this is Kelly Garrett and Kris Munroe, Jill’s sister.”

Kris started to explain to Steve and Danny about her sister’s disappearance. “I had received a letter from my sister saying that she was going to New York and then the next time I heard from her was a panicked phone call that was quickly cut off.”

“Jill is not the type of person who panics over every little thing.” Kelly explained to Steve and Danny.

“Then I received a letter telling me that if I ever wanted to see Jill alive again then we were to come to Hawaii. We were further instructed to come to Honolulu and was told to stay at the Ilikai Hotel and await further instructions,” Kris continued explaining.

Sabrina handed Steve a manila envelope which contained a very recent picture of Jill. There was also a detailed description of her.

“Do any of you have any idea why she was going to New York?” Steve asked.

“Charlie told us that he’d asked her to do an errand for him.” Sabrina continued.

“Charlie?”

“That’s what we call him.” Sabrina explained.

Sabrina then put a call through to ‘Charlie’ for Steve.

“Hello Angels!” Charlie said.

“Charlie, we’re here with Mr. McGarrett and Williams.  Mr. McGarrett has a few questions for you,” Sabrina told him.

“Charles. What was Miss Munroe being sent to New York to do for you?” Steve asked.

Charlie hesitated for several moments. “I had asked her to go meet with someone in New York.”

“When did Jill come up missing? Did she arrive in New York as she was supposed to have?” Steve started asking the hard questions now.

“Jill did not make contact with the man as she was supposed to. When I was notified of that, I contacted the police and asked them to check the airport manifests for me and it showed that Jill had never arrived in New York,” Charlie said worried.

“So Jill was intercepted somewhere between Los Angeles and New York, right?” Steve commented.

“No Steve. Jill had been in Colorado at the time on R & R. I interrupted her skiing trip to ask her to do this errand for me. It should have been just a simple assignment for her, nothing dangerous, or so I thought at the time.”

“Do you have an idea who might have grabbed Miss Munroe?” Steve continued his questions.

“Yes, Steve. Unfortunately I do,” Charlie hesitated just a moment not wanting to reveal all to this Steve McGarrett. “This man is an enemy of mine. A personal enemy who has sworn to get me someday.”

“Charlie, I need this man’s name. Actually anything that you can tell me will be helpful.”

Charlie sighed, “Alright Steve. The man’s name is Thomas Whitman. I’ll send you what information I have by special messenger. He’ll be on the next plane out of here. I’ll have him go straight to Five-O when he arrives.”

“Does Whitman have a police record, Charlie?” Steve asked. He made a mental note to have Chin look up this man’s past history with HPD.

“He certainly does. For first degree murder. He was to have been serving a life sentence.” Charlie continued to give him the basic information on this man.

“Thank you, Charlie. This gives us a place to start from. If we need anything else after I’ve gone over the information your messenger brings I’ll be in touch,” Steve told him

“Aloha, Steve. Give my angels my best, and Good Luck to all of you,” Charlie then hung up.

Steve hung up at the same time and turned back to them. “Well, we now have a place to start and when we get the information Charlie is sending, that’ll be even further help.”

“What do you want us to do?” asked Kelly.

“One of you will have to stay here in the room at all times sitting on the phone in case the kidnappers call again.”

“I’ll do it,” Sabrina volunteered.

“Thanks Sabrina. Kris, I’d like you to work with Danny.”

Kris nodded and glanced over at Danny, who smiled at her.

Then he turned to Kelly, “Kelly, I’d like for us to work together.”

“Alright Steve, I’d like that,” Kelly agreed.

Danny turned his head so Steve couldn’t see his smile of astonishment and surprise.

Kris looked at Danny strangely, questioning why.

They got up to leave the room and Steve turned to Sabrina, “We’ll stay in touch,” as he gave her one of their cards, “this has Five-O’s number so that you’ll be able to contact us at all times. I’ll also arrange for another phone to be installed in this room. We’ll need two outside lines, one for the kidnappers, if they call, and one for you to be able to safely use. I’m also going to send up an HPD officer to this room as protection for you.”

“Why? I don’t need it.” Sabrina protested.

Steve sighed. “Sabrina, until we get a description of this man, anyone who comes to the door could be the kidnappers. Understand? They could come after you if for some reason they found out that we were involved. And God only knows what they might do to Jill. ”

As soon as Steve said these words, he wished that he could’ve taken them back. He saw the look on Kris’s face, and remembered that Jill was her sister. “I’m sorry, Kris.”

“It’s alright Steve. I’ve already thought of that.” Kris said to Steve with a very sad tone to her voice.

They left the room and down in the lobby Steve stopped at a phone to make the necessary calls for a HPD officer upstairs with Sabrina and a call to the telephone company for another phone to. Steve handed Danny the picture of Jill, “Danno, take this picture to Che and have several copies made. Then go to the airport and check out the flights that landed three days ago from Colorado.”

He and Kelly returned to Five-O. At the office, Steve called Chin and Kono into his office. “Chin, Kono, this is Kelly Garrett. She and I are going to be working together on this for the duration.” The Steve turned to Kelly, “Kelly, this is Chin Ho Kelly and Kono Kalakaua.” Kelly’s eyes had widened when he introduced Kono to her.

Steve then continued the give instructions to his men. “I want to know as much as you can find out about Jill Munroe,” Steve handed them the paper that Sabrina had given him with all the information they could give him. “I want the book on her. I also want everything you can find out on a man named Thomas Whitman. He’s the man who may have grabbed Jill Munroe, and escaped from prison recently.”

“Any questions?” Steve looked at the both of them and they shook their heads. “Alright, get on it.”

They both nodded at Kelly and then left the room.

Steve picked up the phone and called Central Dispatch and asked for a patch to Sgt. Lukela. “Duke. McGarrett. I need your assistance here at Five-O indefinitely... Yea... Alright thanks, Duke.” Steve listened to him for a few seconds and then replied. “Okay. See you then. Mahalo.”

Steve set back in his chair and looked at Kelly. “There’s not to much you and I can do until the messenger arrives with the information Charlie is sending. Or until someone comes up with something for us.”

Kelly nodded at Steve, and then rose and walked over to the doors leading out onto the lanai. Just then the door opened and Jenny brought them both a cup of coffee. Kelly took hers and walked out onto the lanai. Steve joined her and she leaned against the railing enjoying the view.

“You have a magnificent view here, Steve.” Kelly commented looking towards King Street.

“Yeah, it’s one of the nicer things about this office.” Steve looked at her and asked if she knew anything about the History of Hawaii.

“Very little Steve,” Kelly replied taking a sip of her coffee.

Steve told her about the Kings and Queens and then about the overthrow of the Hawaiian government. When Kelly heard the last name of King David, she asked Steve about it.

“One of your men, Kono, has that same last name. He is related to the King?” Kelly asked.

“Yes, he is. He’s a descendant of King David Kalakaua.” Steve said with some pride.

“My God!”

As Steve told her about the overthrow of the Hawaiian Government, Kelly shook her head in disbelief that the American people could have been so cruel and greedy to try and destroy something so beautiful. Then she asked Steve if the Hawaiians were bitter about what had happened so many years ago.

Steve turned at the sound of the door to his office opening. Steve turned and walked back into his office. Kelly followed him. Steve greeted the man with his hand outstretched. “Duke. I appreciate your help, bruddah.” Steve turned as he saw Duke’s eyes on Kelly.

“Duke, this is Kelly Garrett. She and I are going to be working on this case together,” Steve informed Duke.

Duke held his hand out to her, and as they shook hands he spoke, “Miss Garrett.”

“Please call me Kelly.”

“All right. Kelly it is.” Then Duke turned back to Steve.

“Kelly works for a detective agency on the mainland. Townsend Detective Agency. I want you to track down Kono and work with him. He’s trying to track down some information for me on a man we believe to have kidnapped a young woman who used to work with Kelly, Jill Munroe.”

Duke nodded his head and then left the room to go find Kono.

“How did you come to work for Charlie Townsend?” Steve asked trying to find out more about this beautiful woman’s past.

“I went through the Police Academy and after graduation I was assigned to direct traffic. Not exactly what I’d expected.”

“Then you are trained in the ways of the Police Department? All three of you are?” Steve commented on this piece of information. “That will be helpful when the time comes to rescue Jill.”

“Yes, we all are. Charlie saw this and he hired three of us to come or work for him; Sabrina, Jill, and myself. Then after a couple of years, Jill decided to leave the Agency and Charlie hired her sister, Kris. Now Jill has been kidnapped.”

The telephone rang and Sabrina reported that she had just received another phone call from the kidnappers. They wanted money by nine tomorrow, a million dollars, or Jill dies. “Thanks Sabrina, continue to monitor the phone and I’ll contact Charlie.” Steve told her.

Steve turned to Kelly. “The kidnappers just called. Their latest demand is for a million dollars, by nine o’ clock tomorrow or they say they will kill Jill.” Steve reached for the phone and called Charlie and told him about the ransom demands.  “Steve, I’ll contact the Bank of Oahu and make arrangements for the money. The messenger will be there in approximately four hours, Steve.” Charlie replied.

“Thank you, Charlie.” Then he turned to Kelly. “Charlie is going to call a bank here in Honolulu and arrange for the money.” Steve sighed. “Now we wait.” He got up and started to pace the office. He hated this waiting. “Tell me about Jill. What is she like?”

“Jill is a very athletic woman, who loves sports. She’s something of a daredevil. She’s also got money. Jill and Kris are orphans. Their parents died in an accident several years ago and left them a considerable fortune,” Kelly was trying help Steve any way she could.

The phone rang and it was Danny reporting in from the airport. “Steve. We found out what airline and flight Jill arrived in Honolulu. Jill walked off the plane on her own accompanied by two men.”

“How do you know?” Steve asked.

“We found a flight attendant who remembered them.”

“When did they arrive?” Kelly asked

“Three days ago.” Danny replied continuing his report.

“Mahalo Danno. Good work. Do you know if someone met them or did they take a taxi or a rental car?”

“Were checking on that right now Steve.”

“Sabrina called. She had received a call from the kidnappers with ransom demands, they are demanding one million dollars by nine tomorrow morning. I’ve already called Charlie and he’s making arrangements with a bank here in Honolulu,” Steve gave Danny an update.

“I’ll brief Kris on that and I’ll get back to you as soon as we have anything else for you, Steve.”

“Alright Danno.”

A couple of hours later, Jenny showed a man into Steve’s office.

“Bosley!” Kelly ran to greet him with a hug.

“Are you alright?” Bosley asked.

“I’m fine, Bosley.” Kelly turned to Steve. “Steve, this is Bosley. He works for Charlie too. Bosley, this is Steve McGarrett.”

Steve shook hands with him and Bosley handed him the envelope, “Here is the information from Charlie.”

While Steve started to go through it Kelly brought Bosley up-to-date on what was happening there and also told him about the call that Sabrina had received with the ransom demands.

Chin entered the office just then. “What have you got, Chin?” Steve asked.

“I finally talked to the warden of the prison on the mainland that had housed Thomas Whitman. He had inside help on escaping. The man is extremely dangerous. He escaped a week ago, Steve. They are sending us a picture of him. “ Chin handed Steve a copy of Whitman’s record.

While Steve was reviewing the information, the phone rang.

“Steve,” Danny reported in. “the kidnappers and Jill had taken a taxi to 310 Makiki Heights Drive. Were heading there right now to check it out.”

“Keep me posted, Danno.”

“I will Steve.’

Jenny put her head in the door and told Chin that the picture was coming in right now. Chin started to leave the room. “Chin, take the picture to Che and get some copies made of it for us, Steve instructed.

“Alright Steve.” Chin left the office.

Steve hung up the phone and realized that Kelly was standing right beside him. He could see the questions in her eyes before she voiced them. “We think we may have a location on the kidnappers. Right now I’m waiting for more information first, before we go check it out.”

He saw the frustration and fear in her eyes. Steve took Kelly in his arms to comfort her.

She stiffened at first, then she relaxed against him, with a sigh. She looked up at Steve and he kissed her.  When Steve finally released her, he looked over at Bosley and saw the look of amusement on his face. Steve just shrugged his shoulders.

Kelly looked over at Bosley too. “Stop smirking, Bosley!”

“Who’s smirking?” They all laughed, breaking the tension.

“Bosley. I’m going to send you over to the Hotel to stay with Sabrina.” Steve called a taxi for him, “Brief Sabrina on what’s been happening here. Okay?”

“I will Steve,” Bosley said as he left.

Steve started pacing his office, so Kelly tried to distract him by asking about his background. She was very curious about this man who gave her butterflies in her stomach. “Tell me about yourself Steve. Where are you from?”

“I’m from the mainland. When I was a teenager, my father was killed in the line of duty. He was a policeman. Then it was up to me to look after my mother and sister. My mother is dead and my sister lives with her husband in Los Angeles.” Steve told her.

Steve came and sat down on the couch and Kelly joined him. “After graduating from high school, I joined the Navy and went to work for Naval Intelligence. In the early 1950’s, I was assigned to Pearl Harbor here in Hawaii. A few years later, I resigned my commission and was made head of Hawaii Five-O by the Governor. I still retain a commission as Full Commander in the Naval Reserves.

“Working here at Five-O must be interesting work?” Kelly liked the fact that Steve had sat down and stopped pacing.

“Sometimes. Dangerous too. We also do some work for the State Department.” He saw the curiosity in Kelly’s eyes but did not elaborate.

The phone rang and Steve answered. “McGarrett. What have you got Duke?”

“We’ve been watching the house here on Makiki Heights Drive. There’s been no sign of anyone around. It looks empty.”

“Is Danno and Kris there with you?” Steve questioned.

“They are,” Duke replied.

“Tell Danno were on our way. Make sure you have plenty of backup. When Kelly and I get there were going in.” Steve hung up the phone.

Steve briefed Kelly on the way out of the office. As the two of them left for the house, both of them were hoping that this would be it.

When they arrived, Danny came over to greet them. “Steve we found a neighbor who told us that she had seen two men and a blonde woman arrive about three days ago. They left yesterday morning and she hasn’t seen them since. She gave us a description of the car and we got lucky Steve. She was even able to give us a license number. Central is checking it out right now.” They went into the house and searched it for evidence. There was a newspaper there with an ad circled. It was for a boat at the Koko Marina.

Danny, Kris, Steve and Kelly went to Koko Marina to check out the boat only to be told that it had been stolen earlier that day. Danny showed the man a picture of Whitman along with a picture of Jill. “Yea. Those were two of them that came asking about the boat. The other guy was pretty creepy looking. There was something about the two of them that made me distinctly uncomfortable. I left and when I came back my boat was missing. I made a report to HPD but they had little hope of finding my boat,” the owner told them.

“Did anyone see these men steal the boat?” Steve asked.

“Yes. I have a witness who says he saw it,” the owner informed them.

When they questioned the witness, they showed him the pictures they had and he identified Whitman and Jill.

Danny put a call through to the Coast Guard with the registration name and serial number of the boat and they told him that they’d have a chopper in the air to start a search for it. They’d get back to them as soon as they had something. “Steve, the Coast Guard will get back to me as soon as they have something for us.” Danny reported to Steve.

Che reported to Steve from the house. “What have you got Che?” Steve asked.

“I found quite a few prints, Steve. But I’ll need Miss Munroes’ so that I can compare them against the ones I found.”

Word finally came from the Coast Guard telling them that they’d finally located the boat. They gave the location and Steve asked for the use of a Coast Guard boat to take them to the location. He also called for the HPD helicopter.

“Danno, Kelly, Kono, Chin, Duke and I are going with the Coast Guard boat. You and Kris go in the helicopter.” He sent an HPD car to pick up Sabrina and Bosley from the Hotel.

On the boat, Steve briefed everyone and laid it out for them how they were going to do this. “I want no grandstanding. I don’t want anyone to get hurt.” The words were directed at Kelly, Sabrina, and Bosley but Steve was looking at Kelly when he said it.

“Steve. We’ve located the boat and we’ve seen one man on board, but no Jill. She’s probably being held down below,” Danny radioed from the helicopter.

“Yea. Most likely.” Steve agreed.

“How do you want to handle this, Steve?” Danny inquired.

“If they refuse to come about we’ll fire on the boat if we have to. I don’t want to endanger Jill’s life, but....” Steve told him.

When they arrived at the location, Steve used the blowhorn. “This is Five-O, give up and come about or we’ll fire on you.”

Their answer was to bring Jill up on the bridge. “Back off, or we’ll kill the girl.” Jill exchanged looks with Kelly, who was standing beside Steve, and then nodded slightly. Jill slumped over and the man holding on to her let go. Jill instantly jumped overboard and starting swimming for the Coast Guard boat. The men opened fire on her, but they missed.

Steve ordered his men to fire on the boat, and there was gunfire from Danno aboard the helicopter.

Jill was helped aboard the boat and one of the officers provided her with a blanket. She thanked them for rescuing her. Danny had hit one of the guys. “Pull alongside the boat.” Steve ordered the Coast Guard officers.

They boarded the boat and shot the other man was shot while they tried to take him into the custody. The man tried to shoot Steve and in the confusion that followed, Kelly got shot when she tried to get around the man to shoot him. She didn’t have enough cover and he had spotted her and shot her, hitting her in the stomach. “Kelly!” Steve exclaimed in horror.

Steve watched Kono and Chin handcuffed the two men and he left them to guard the two prisoners while he went over to check on Kelly. Steve’s face was very pale, as he knelt down to see how she was. “How are you, Kelly?”

“I’ll be alright Steve.” And she tried to smile at him. Steve bent his head and kissed her.

Duke radioed for ambulances to meet the boat and HPD officers to take the prisoners into custody. They arrived at the harbor. “Steve go ahead and go to the hospital with Kelly. We can handle things at this end.”

“Thanks Duke.” He knew the others would follow.

Steve was pacing in the waiting room when he was joined by his men, the angels, and Bosley. “Kelly has been taken to the operating room. It’ll be awhile before we hear anything. Doc Bergman is with her and he’ll let us know as soon as he can.”

They all went up to the waiting room by the operating room to await word on her condition. A few hours later, Doc Bergman came into the waiting room. “Steve, Kelly made it through surgery with no problems. She’ll be alright.”

Steve sighed and then smiled at Bergman. “Mahalo. When can I see her, Doc?”

“Right now Steve.” Doc Bergman walked with Steve to Kelly’s room. At the door, he put his hand on Steve’s arm and told him, “She’s unconscious and probably will be for awhile yet. I’ll be close by and I’ll keep a watch on her for tonight, but I don’t anticipate any problems.” Steve looked at him gratefully.

“Thanks Doc.”

Steve walked into the room where Kelly was still unconscious. He smoothed back her hair from her forehead and kissed her. He was very thankful that she’d made it so far.

He turned and left the room and went back to rejoin the others. “She’s still unconscious.”

Doc came back over to them. “Why don’t all of you go and get some rest. I’ll be here with Kelly, and I’ll let you know if there’s any change in her condition.”

The next morning when Steve went to the hospital, Kelly had finally regained consciousness. Steve had decided to wait awhile before giving her a good dressing down for risking her life the way she had out there.

A couple of days later at the hospital Steve felt it was time to discuss the matter with Kelly, “What did you think you were trying to do out there? You could have gotten yourself killed.” It had been her own fault that she’d been shot.

“He was trying to shoot you, Steve. I was trying to stop him.” While they were all there in Kelly’s room, the phone rang and it was Charlie to congratulate them on rescuing Jill.

Steve had briefed Charlie earlier on Kelly’s condition. “The doctor says that Kelly will be in the hospital for several days and then will have a few weeks recuperating time after that.”

“I need Sabrina, Kris, and Bosley here in Los Angeles. But of course Kelly will have to stay for awhile while she recovers. Just contact me when you need them back for the trial and I’ll make sure that they are there,” Charlie told him.

“Thanks Charlie,” Steve replied.

Steve was looking very pleased with himself. Jill who was also there with them looked a little puzzled at first and then on seeing the look on Kris and Kelly’s faces, smiled to herself.

“What are you going to now Jill that this is all over?” Kelly asked.

“I’m going to return to my skiing trip that Charlie interrupted.” Jill looked at her little sister, “I’ll be seeing you soon, Kris.”

Doc Bergman entered the room just then and ordered everyone out except for Steve. “My patient needs to rest. OUT!”

“Bye Kelly. We’ll be back later to visit you.” Sabrina, Kris, Jill, and Bosley told Kelly as they left the room.

Steve bent his head and kissed Kelly. When he sat back, “How are you feeling?“

“Aside from my stomach hurting me, I’m alright, Steve. Thank you for talking Charlie into letting me stay. Once I recuperate maybe we’ll have some time to spend together, that is, if you can get away from Five-O long enough. They both laughed at that.

The End

Original content © 2001
Betty's Book Me Danno
Original Posted July 16, 2001