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It was the middle of the afternoon when Steve first became aware of the noise. Drifting in through his open lanai doors came the low hum of voices, just snatches of sound at first, but gradually increasing in volume until the steady babble filled the office with its presence. Alternately irritated at the interruption and curious as to its source, Steve was finally driven to rise from his desk and the complicated case file he was studying. Stepping out onto the lanai, he was astonished at the spectacle that greeted him, a sight that had him moving briskly back to his desk and punching the intercom button. "Danno. In here now!" he barked.
The door to his office opened almost immediately. "You called, Steve...?" Five-O's second-in-command looked concerned at the abrupt summons.
"Yes, Danno, I did." Steve waved Dan into the office and shut the door behind him. "What can you tell me about ... that ... outside on the Palace grounds?"
Danny cocked his head and listened to the swell of sound, then strode over to the lanai door and looked out. His initial look of puzzlement faded and a smile came to his face as he realized what was happening outside. "It's a Rapture gathering, Steve," he said. "I guess I'm not really surprise to see one here, it's a logical place."
"A what?!" Steve looked confused. "What kind of a gathering is this?!"
"You know, The Rapture. The end of the world, the raising of the worthy to heaven..." Danny trailed off as it became increasingly obvious that his boss had no idea what he was talking about. "Haven't you been following this in the news, Steve?"
The Five-O chief glared at the younger officer. "Obviously I haven't, Danno! Why are these people all gathered here, outside the Iolani Palace?"
"Today is May twenty-first. A preacher from California predicted that The Rapture would occur today, at six p.m., actually." Danny tried to keep the explanation as brief as possible. "He asked his followers to pray for salvation, so that they might be saved at Judgement Day."
"So the crowd out there is coming together, in a ... kind of a deathwatch, is that it?" Steve still looked confused. "Why here at the Palace?"
"It's an interesting mix of cultures, isn't it?" Danny smiled again. "The logical gathering place would be a church, you'd think. But the Palace, as former home and burial site for the old king, is sacred ground to the locals. So here they are..."
Steve walked over to the lanai door again, shaking his head in disbelief. The noise level had continued to grow, and when he looked outside, he was not surprised to see that the crowd had increased in size even while he and Danny had been talking. "There's got to be hundreds of people out there," he commented. "Although, to their credit, they seem to be well behaved." He turned back to Danny. "So what do you propose to do about this situation? Consider it your responsibility; you obviously know a lot more about it than I do!"
Danny paused to think for a moment. "Well, Steve," he said. "I think we should just sit tight until six oh five." He grinned mischievously. "One way or another, it'll all be over by then!
Pau