S09E07 - “Heads, You're Dead” - Plot

Act One

A couple sails their yacht 'Lady Fame' toward Honolulu as three deck hands hang out on deck. The captain (Carl Tovares) tells Mr. Thompson (Lloyd Campbell) their ETA is about 1300 hours. Thompson says Jim (Lou Richards) will only beat them by a few hours and they should have entered the race but his wife (Coralie Vellis) reminds him they had a four-day head start. One deck hand (Paul Koslo) tells Bama (John Lisbon Wood) they need to move as the Thompsons go below deck. Bama stabs the captain and they toss him overboard. The first deck hand dons the captain's hat as the third deck hand (Frank Kane) takes the wheel. The first deck hand and Bama go below deck to the Thompsons as the 'Lady Fame' continues sailing.

An announcer (Todd Mason) says 17 yachts are still racing in the Trans-Pac. The first to cross the finish line is the Tempest as crowds gather to congratulate the winning crew. Aboard the 'Starfire II' Jim is told they have a good chance of second place in their class. As well, his teammate (Skip Lambert) tells him he got a radio message from Thompson that they're not arriving in Honolulu after all but instead will be sailing the other islands for a couple weeks vacation but something doesn't sound right to Jim. He immediately radios the Lady Fame. As Jim's radio calls become more desperate, the first deckhand has a watch and is counting cash from the couple.

On deck, the first deckhand tells Eldon, the one who steered them, he and Bama are going into town to get supplies. Charlie wants Eldon to find a tarp or blanket to cover the name so they're not so easily spotted. The ultimate plan is to go to Hong Kong and they will eventually kill the Thompsons.

McGarrett is driving down the road when it's Danno telling him about another report of a yacht, this time the Lady Fame out of Newport Beach. McGarrett tells Danno to notify Commander Brannen (Jack Hogan) that he's on the way.

Jim is in Commander Brannen's office when McGarrett arrives. He tells them his parents sailed over in their own boat to watch the race as they have done every race year before. Jim explains the weird radio message and their previous plans: they were going to sail to Tahiti after the awards dinner on Tuesday. McGarrett wants to be certain that whoever took the message; in this case Richie a member of the Starfire II crew, talked directly to Mr. Thompson and Jim confirms this. Jim also says he's tried contacting his parents several times with no answer and that's the most troublesome of all. Commander Brannen says a search is underway but nothing has been found so far.

At the Lady Fame, the three hijackers ready to cover the name when some boaters pass nearby. Not liking the look of the scene, Charlie takes action shooting at the boaters! The boaters take off with the guy radioing the Coast Guard about being fired upon. The radioman (Bill Perkins) takes their information about being near Kawela Bay and passes it up the chain right away.

McGarrett takes a call in his office: Commander Brannen briefs him on what they just discovered about the Lady Fame. He offers McGarrett a ride to go see it for himself as they check it out. McGarrett agrees leaving for the Coast Guard.

A small Coast Guard boat approaches the Lady Fame as a Coast Guard helicopter hovers overhead. McGarrett and Commander Brannen board the yacht with two Coast Guardsmen with them. McGarrett and Commander Brannen confirm it's the Lady Fame and Commander Brannen waves off the helicopter as McGarrett searches the yacht. He finds the Thompsons dead under a tarp.

Act Two

McGarrett calls Coast Guard Honolulu telling them the Lady Fame has been found and to notify HPD of two bodies found on board. He gives their tentative identities as Celeste and Lyle Thompson but strict orders not to release the names until next of kin notification. McGarrett and Commander Brannen find everything of value was taken but McGarrett wants to find the three crewmen who fired on the boaters. Once on deck, they surmise Captain Van Cleef was killed and notice the dinghy is gone. McGarrett wants to find it to get an idea where the three are or at least a "starting point". Commander Brannen keeps a pair of guards on board until HPD can get out there.

McGarrett and Commander Brannen search the bay but don't find anything until they see the dinghy beached on a point. McGarrett wants the dinghy picked up and makes a radio call to Danno telling him where the three put ashore. McGarrett wants to "seal off the highway from Kahuku to Waimea" commencing a search of the North Shore. Danno makes the immediate coordination to make it happen with HPD searching the area and setting up roadblocks.

In McGarrett's office, he breaks the horrible news to Jim about his parents. Jim doesn't understand why they had to be killed as McGarrett explains four other yachts have been hijacked in the past year to import heroin into Hawaii. At the end of the day, McGarrett doesn't understand the why either, only their murders fit the pattern as no witnesses have been left alive. Jim never met the new deckhands: he only knows they were young and "just out of the merchant marine," seeming to be good sailors. McGarrett tells him there is an All Points bulletin out on them and the roads to and from the North Shore are blocked. He tells Jim they'll inform him if anything develops. Jim tells McGarrett to get them, just so no one else gets hurt.

Danno and Officer Sandi Welles (Amanda McBroom) talk to a roadside seller but find out nothing on the three missing crewmen. However, when they drive away, the three are singing in the back of a farming truck driving in the opposite direction. As they drive, Sandi asks if she was personally requested but she's "part of a package deal".

In McGarrett's office, Chin talks to an older man (Yan Hoon Chang) in Chinese as the man sits in McGarrett's chair. McGarrett and Duke walk in as Chin quickly pulls the man up. Chin explains the man wanted to sit in McGarrett's chair and they may have something. McGarrett is okay with him sitting where he wants and to hear what he has to say. The man "picked up three hitchhikers on the North Shore yesterday and dropped them off at Kapolei Road, near the university turnoff". All the man can tell them is one of them had a beard but all Caucasians look the same to him. McGarrett wants Chin to take the man to his office and get every bit of information out of him. Looking at a map, McGarrett notices there are four marinas in close proximity of their drop off. Duke comments about the large number of boats, but that is if they choose a boat.

Charlie, Bama and Eldon eye the 'Sea Sage' as the crew loads her with supplies. Charlie likes the look of it and takes the other two for a walk so the crew can finish loading. Meanwhile, Danno enters McGarrett's office: McGarrett wants two-man teams at the four marinas because when the hijackers surface to take a boat out, he wants to be the first to know. The phone buzzes: Chief Inspector Quincy in Hong Kong tells McGarrett everything is still go on their end. They even traced a phone number used: 555-8986. McGarrett tells Danno to get an address and HPD backup so they can hit these guys.

Charlie, Bama and Eldon are in an apartment making last minute preparations when Charlie spots the police moving in. Five-O arrives with McGarrett kicking in the door only to find the place empty and a message: 'Aloha Pigs'!

Act Three

Danno and Sandi are one set of the two-man teams to scour the marinas for the hijackers. He takes the west end and sends her to the east end. Sandi enters a hardware store where Charlie is buying a bunch of beer. Sandi follows him out. Danno returns to the car in time for dispatch to give a call out for the men matching the descriptions at Okalani Marina. Danno responds to the call as Sandi follows Charlie back to the 'Sea Sage' eventually boarding. She looks around finding the crew bound and gagged below deck. However, Charlie finds her right away forcing her inside the pilothouse at gunpoint. Before going inside, Sandi drops her badge into the water so she isn't made as a cop. She gives them a story about being invited to a cocktail party but wound up on the wrong boat. Charlie doesn't buy it and has her tied up with the others. Sandi is bound and gagged as the three men at Okalani Marina are arrested by HPD. When Danno arrives on scene, it turns out to be a false alarm. Meantime, the hijackers set sail in the 'Sea Sage' with the crew still below decks joined by Sandi.

The next morning, Danno walks into McGarrett's office saying Sandi didn't report for roll call! McGarrett asks where he saw her last: "checking the east slips at Kaimana Marina". Danno has even checked her home but she hasn't been there all night, no one has seen her! McGarrett has Malia put a call into Commander Brannen.

The Sea Sage proceeds in its sailing as Commander Brannen briefs McGarrett on what they found: the Sea Sage pulled out of Kaimana Marina but no idea what time they took off. They take a look at the map with Commander Brannen setting up a search 200 miles on either side of the normal shipping lanes. He also has the Cape Corwin standing by awaiting word from McGarrett who says, "let's go".

On board the Sea Sage, Sandi is cooking omelets as Bama gives her a hard time. Charlie tells her he doesn't buy the fact she's an airline stewardess but she's undeterred. Bama tells her not to forget the hot sauce and she proceeds to pour the whole bottle over it! When Charlie realizes what she's done, he makes her eat it instead making her nearly choke on it.

The Cape Corwin sails looking for the Sea Sage but they're not the only ones: a C-130 is airborne with Danno aboard searching the waters. As they search, Bama forces Sandi and the rest of the crew onto the deck. Charlie tells them this is where they get off but the captain (Roy Damron) says they won't last 30 minutes without the life raft. Bama has an idea, a coin flip: "tails, you get the life raft. Heads, you're dead". Charlie likes the idea and forces them into the water shoving one crewman (Jerry Boyd) out! Sandi tells them before jumping in, "I hope you sink". The four gather together in the water.

Act Four

Sandi and the three crewmen tread water as one of the crew (John Thorp) notices the Sea Sage turning around. Bama yells to them it's their lucky day throwing the life raft to them. However, they have two problems, there are two separate holes in the raft! They tape it the best they can even though it won't last long.

The Cape Corwin and the Coast Guard C-130 keep searching but the ocean is a vast nothingness: a nothingness Sandi and the crewmen are facing with sharks as company! The Coast Guard keeps searching as Sandi laments about the morning prior when she threw out her fruit juice and it was supposed to "be another routine day". One of the crewmen spots the far off C-130 and they begin to frantically wave but it's too far off. Sandi finds the mirror for the captain and he tries signaling that way. At first it seems to fail but Danno spots the glimmer asking the pilot (Michael D. Hendrickson) about it but he chalks it to natural phenomenon. When Danno sees it again, they turn the airplane to "check it out". When the C-130 completes a low fly-by the crew knows they've been rescued as Danno radios McGarrett about the life raft being in grid 27, quadrant 9. The Coast Guard turns the Cape Corwin to close in as the C-130 circles overhead.

Back on the Sea Sage, the hijackers hang out listening to crap rock music and drinking beer. Meanwhile, Sandi and the crew are pull aboard the Cape Corwin with Commander Brannen asking how long they've been in the water: four hours! Commander Brannen orders the C-130 to keep searching for the yacht as McGarrett wraps Sandi in a blanket and gets as much information from her. She tells him about how she got caught and how Charlie has an automatic rifle. The other two have handguns. McGarrett takes her inside as the last of the crew is brought aboard.

The C-130 continues searching eventually catching up to the Sea Sage. Charlie bets on fuel and as soon as the C-130 has to turn back, they'll change course to 220 southwest. However, the Cape Corwin isn't that far behind as Bama notices in short order! Charlie grabs his rifle and starts shooting when the Cape Corwin is in range. Charlie shoots a Coast guard gunner but another Coast Guardsman shoots back! Charlie goes down as Bama and Eldon surrender with no place to go. Bama and Eldon are brought on board where Sandi gives them one last jab offering to cook dinner for them! After they're taken below, she tells McGarrett about dropping her badge so she wouldn't be known as a police officer even though it's against regulations. McGarrett tells her he will be happy to fix it for her, he just needs to know her number!