Four men, posing as Army specialists whose truck overturned and spilled canisters marked as deadly VX nerve gas, evacuate a small town on Oahu's remote north coast. That evacuation includes the bank, which the criminals then saw into and knock over for a fortune. McGarrett immediately orders a roadblock on the only highway up that side of the island, stranding the bank robbers far from any point of escape. McGarrett mans Five-O headquarters while Danny, Chin and Ben go op to investigate. The two mainland "haoles," a music-company owner and his buddy, have prepared for this by breaking down hundreds of old 8-track cassettes, stuffing the money inside them and giving them, a few at a time, to one of the locals, a driver for the resort hotel where they are staying, who can take them out in his van on supply runs and stash them elsewhere. The question, though, is whether the other local, a bellman at the same hotel, will crack under the stress of the investigation. He does, and is murdered. Soon the other local is slain as well. Five-O has a pretty good idea who committed the murders, but still has to catch them in the act of transporting the last of the money on their own.
—Peter Harris