Author's Note: I'm going to break my own rules and post this first chapter before I've written the whole story, but I promised Shakespeare's Lemonade a new story for her birthday, since she gave me a chapter of Old Friends for mine. And by the way, Lynn, you've only got a couple of days before a Five-0/NCIS: LA crossover becomes canon. She wanted a story with "Danger, near death and Danny ranting." I hope this satisfies.

Unexpected

Slim and lovely, her dark skin contrasting with her yellow sundress, Sherri strolled into the dimly lit bar that was adjacent to, but not part of, a major tourist hotel in Honolulu.

She scanned the room. A morose drunk slouched in one booth, a half empty bottle of scotch in front of him. His face shadowed by the harsh overhead lamp, he fingered his shotglass, seemingly lost in gloomy thought.

Not what she was looking for.

Her gaze passed over two Hawaiian couples, holding hands, gazing into each other's eyes, unaware of anyone else.

Also pass.

Three businessmen chortled over a deal at another booth.

Possible, but …

At the bar, a blond-haired tourist joshed with the bartender in a thick East Coast accent — New York, New Jersey, Sherri could never tell them apart. Alone and lonely, he looked like what the doctor ordered, the woman thought with satisfaction.

She studied him as she sauntered over. The tourist was short and a little pudgy around the middle, though maybe that was the oversized flowered Hawaiian shirt he wore. Sherri thought he'd be an easy sell. In her opinion, short guys were often sexually aggressive, ready to prove their prowess. And, to be fair, some of them had been as good as they'd bragged, Sherri remembered, running the tip of her tongue across her white teeth. This man might be one of those, she thought, admiring the muscular calves showing between his khaki shorts and sandaled feet. Then Sherri gave her head a tiny shake. She wasn't in that job anymore, she reminded herself. Pity.

Her mark looked at his watch and started to turn away from the bar. He caught Sherri's eye and stopped in the middle of a long, involved story about his Uncle Vinnie's only visit to Honolulu. The blond returned her professional smile with a friendly leer.

She slipped onto the barstool next to the blond's. "Care for a little chocolate with that drink?" she purred, flicking a finger at the fruity concoction in front of the tourist.

The man let his gaze trail down the milk chocolate leg on display then back up the slender form to the short, neatly trimmed afro on top. The woman just tilted her head and smiled seductively. The man smiled back. "I love chocolate."

The bartender gave the woman a dirty look because she was going to take a good customer away. "You want something?" he asked her pointedly.

She looked at him, then looked back at the blond and smiled. "Guess I've got all I need, thanks." She trailed a finger along the blond's forearm as she stood up. "Meet you outside," she whispered.

The tourist watched her sashay away with pleasure.

"Better watch it, brah," the bartender warned. "She's a working girl, you know." He rubbed his fingers together, indicating she'd want payment.

"Yeah, we have them in Jersey, too," the man replied. "But, hey, I'm on vacation. Gotta sample the island delicacies."

He dropped a $20 tip on the bar by way of apology, then Detective Danny Williams followed the woman out.

Blinking in the sunshine, Danny caught a glimpse of a shapely leg and a flicker of yellow dress disappearing around a corner. He rubbed his hands together in anticipation and went after her, then he stopped abruptly as he stepped into the alley.

The woman faced him, holding a small revolver. Two men with hunting knives flanked her and moved to cut off Danny's retreat.

"Whoa! Whoa!" Danny protested, hands up and empty. "What gives, babe?" he complained. He circled to keep the men in sight and they moved with him until they were between Danny and the alley entrance.

"Just hand over your wallet, babe," Sherri said sarcastically. "And that pretty Rolex, too."

"Gee, most hookers will at least give you a little bang for your buck," Danny returned the sarcasm.

"Money. Now!" the woman barked.

"OK, but you've made a mistake," Danny said. "I don't have a wallet. All I have is this." He reached into his back pocket, pulled out a leather case and flipped it open to show his Five-0 badge.

"Cop!" one of the men blurted.

He started to spin but found himself facing two pistols and a shotgun. Putting their backs to the alley entrance proved to be a strategic mistake, giving Danny's backup a chance to arrive unseen.

"Haven't you heard the saying, don't bring a knife to a gunfight?" The morose drunk towered over the pair of attackers in all of Steve McGarrett's 6-foot glory. Flanking him were Kono Kalakaua and Chin Ho Kelly, no longer a courting couple but a pair of kickass cop cousins. Chin gestured with his trusty shotgun.

"Five-0! Drop the weapons!" he ordered.

The outmatched knifemen complied immediately, but Sherri snarled and turned her gun toward the undercover cop at her side. Danny's right elbow came up sharply under her chin while his other hand came around to catch her gun hand, slam it against the brick wall and wrench it behind her back. When she still didn't drop her revolver, the detective slammed her face down on the ground and planted a knee in her back.

"Really? What good would that do? Seriously!" Danny demanded. He took the gun from her nerveless fingers and handed it to Kono in exchange for a pair of handcuffs. "You gonna take me hostage? You gonna shoot me in front of my friends? Think that would get you anything besides a closed casket funeral? Shotguns are sooooo messy."

Danny's gaze met Chin's at the last statement.

"But decisive," Chin offered. "They always have the last word."

"When you're right, you're right," Danny told his friend.

"This is police brutality," the woman snarled, with Danny's weight still pressing her firmly to the muddy alley pavement.

"You think?" Danny asked, as if he was really considering the point. "My mother brought me up to be a gentleman, but my ex-wife always pushed for equality. What do you think?" he appealed to Kono.

"She pulled a gun on you, brah, and she's still alive. I think she should count her blessings. If she'd pulled it on me, she wouldn't be conscious to be complaining about it."

"There, a woman's point of view. No more complaining," Danny ordered, as he got off the woman's back.

She kicked out, trying to catch Danny in the groin, but he twisted away. It wasn't his first trip around the seamy side of the block.

The knifemen who wasn't handcuffed tried to use the distraction to escape. Steve reached out almost casually, caught the man's arm and spun him into the other suspect.

"I wasn't doing anything," the second man protested.

"These guys complain almost as much as you do, Danny," Steve commented, earning a dirty look from his partner.

As Steve cuffed the would-be escapee, Kono dug her fingers into the afro and hauled Sherri to her feet by her hair.

"Struggle any more and you'll be setting a new half-bald fashion trend in your booking photo," Danny warned. "Just saying."

"So, you going to book 'em, Danno?" Steve smirked.

Danny glanced at his watch. "No can do, fearsome leader. You'll have to do it yourself, this time. I've got to pick up Grace at school. I was just about to call a halt to the operation when our suspect walked in."

"You going like that?" Steve gestured at Danny's abnormal clothing choice.

"Aren't you going to change?" Chin asked.

"No time. I'm already late. Keys," he demanded, hand out.

"You're really going like a real Hawaiian?" Steve asked. "No tie and professional attire?"

"One, this was professional attire. It was a disguise." Danny ticked off the points on his fingers. "Two, as of five minutes ago, I am off duty, so I may wear shorts if I choose. And, three, the whole look worked for the women, didn't it?"

His cocky, smug look made Steve laugh. Danny's prosperous tourist getup had lured three prostitutes before finally landing the stickup crew that had held up seven men, putting three in the hospital with knife and gunshot wounds.

"Those were hookers, Danny. They'll pick up anyone."

Danny shook his head. "They had their choice every time, Mr. Tall, Dark and Scary. You were in the same bar every time. Not one of them went to you first. In fact, that little blonde sidled as far from you as she could get and walked clear around the perimeter of the bar to get to me."

Kono studied Steve's down-and-out dirty denim. "Danny's right, boss. Clothes make the man. And they make woman bait. Danny had the right bait today."

"Now, keys," Danny demanded again. "Or Grace will be sitting all alone on the steps of her school."

Steve tossed him the keys to the Camaro.

Danny saluted and jogged off, sandals slapping on the pavement.

Steve chuckled, and got a poke in the ribs from the butt of Chin's shotgun.

"I don't know what you're laughing at. He looks perfectly normal to me," said the detective, who was wearing a brightly patterned Hawaiian shirt and jeans.

"Yeah, but 'normal' isn't 'Danny.'"

Danny didn't see his daughter when he drove past the front steps of her school, so he pulled in the parking lot. The detective dialed Grace's cell phone to find out where she was. Miley Cyrus began singing in the next row over.

"Grace?" Danny looked around, but all he saw was a man bent over a burden, a squirming burden.

"Grace!"

Gun in hand, Danny ran at the man who held his hand over the mouth of Danny's wide-eyed, struggling daughter. He didn't see the second man, until the kidnapper stepped out from behind an SUV and fired two shots point blank into Danny's chest. He slammed backwards, whacking his head on a car mirror.

Body numb, unable to breathe, Danny collapsed on the asphalt. He heard his daughter scream, and then everything went black.

Unexpected.