He shook his head into the phone. “It didn’t start out that way.”
“From the way you talked, they never do.”
That Jack Ferrell dumb luck.
“I’m just lucky, I guess.”
She sighed, and he wondered if it was in frustration or resignation.
Or perhaps both.
“I go on days off tomorrow,” she said. “I’m joining you, if you’ll let me.”
“Won’t that be a conflict with your job?”
“I can spend my off-time pole dancing if that’s what I wish to do.”
A vision of her on a shiny stainless steel pole came to mind, and with it, a smile. He wanted to chuckle aloud, but the situation she wanted to involve herself in was anything but comical. And it sure didn’t include dancing.
And certainly not a pole.
“Last night at dinner, you promised not to put yourself in a position that would allow something bad to happen to you.” He was making his best argument. “And I told you I couldn’t live with the thought I was in any way responsible.”
“And I told you the choice was mine to make.”
She was persistent. And strong willed. The best thing for him to do was say no to her and weather the fallout afterwards. But he couldn’t bring himself to do that.
Was it selfishness on his part?
Or respect for her decision?
What he did know was it would be nice having her along.
“We’ll call it a relaxing boat ride,” he said.
He hoped that’s all it turned out to be.
CHAPTER 35
Jack ended his call to Dana and watched the screen on his phone go dark. He hadn’t planned on her inviting herself along.
And he sure hadn’t intended on agreeing to it.
But he had.
He brought his gaze up and watched the canoers pass by on their return trip. Everyone still rowing in unison to the helmsman’s cadence. He tried to match his heartrate to it. It didn’t work. Dana had him way too wound up. Off balance.
And that left him not knowing what to think about her joining them.
As much as he wanted her along, he couldn’t help wonder if it had been the right decision to agree.
Or had he been drawn in like a star-struck schoolboy?
So this was his week to adjust his way of thinking. Make tweaks in his feelings, life plan. Accommodate Dana, make a place for her at his side.
Or perhaps he was overthinking the entire situation.
He laid his cell on the counter next to the small stainless steel sink and looked at Robert and Kazuko’s expectant expressions. They’d been listening.
From across the salon, Robert asked, “Well?”
“Interesting, to say the least,” Jack said. He scratched the stubble on his cheek and added, “Didn’t go quite the way I thought it would.”
“From what I could tell from this side of the conversation, Dana thinks you’re an idiot for not going to the police.”
“Us, you mean.”
“Us?”
“She included you and Kazuko.” He shook his head in amazement. “Ironically, she invited herself along.”
“Naturally, you agreed?”
“She’s joining us tomorrow.”
“Why not tonight?”
Jack was a bit taken aback by the question. Amazed he hadn’t thought of it himself.
“Tonight?”
“Sure. Call her back and invite her to have dinner here with us.”
“You’re in one of your Robert-sarcastic moods, right?”
“I don’t think he’s being sarcastic at all,” Kazuko said before Robert could answer. “I’d like to get to know a little more about this lady friend of yours.”
Jack hadn’t expected to get hit from both sides. “You’re serious.”
“Of course I am.” She glanced in Robert’s direction, then turned her gaze on him. “Why does she have to wait until tomorrow? If she agrees, we can buzz into Maalaea Harbor when she’s ready to come aboard, and pick her up.”
He didn’t have to give another second’s thought to her suggestion. “That’s not a bad idea.”
“It’s an excellent idea,” she said. “There’s no reason not to.”
“Except maybe Takahashi’s goons,” he said. “They’re still out there, and they are probably looking for us as we speak.”
“Possibly. But we can be in and out of there before they know it.”
He studied his friends’ expressions. “You’re serious . . . both of you.”
Kazuko answered, “Absolutely.”
He got a grin from Robert.
Their minds were made up. And that put his brain to work evaluating the present situation. They’d need supplies to make what they had planned, work.
“She still has to agree,” he said. “But if she does, it’ll give me a chance to run into the market next door to Beach Bum’s and pick up some food and beer . . . and any other essentials we need if we’re going to be spending a few days onboard the boat while we sort this mess out.”
“I hope she does,” Kazuko said. “If the weather holds, it should be a nice night to sit out on the deck and enjoy the stars.”
Jack warmed to the idea even more.
“It’s settled then.” Robert looked at Jack, and said, “Pick up some steaks, thick ones. We’ll barbecue.”
“And don’t forget wine,” Kazuko added.
Jack laughed to himself. The evening was turning into a party. He liked that. A break from the stress of the situation would do them all good.
And he’d get to spend more time with Dana.
“I’ll call her back and ask,” he said. “Then I’ll dial up Kimo and see if he has any words of wisdom to offer.”
Robert nodded. “Be sure and tell him hi for us.”
“And, Jack,” Kazuko said. “When you talk to Dana, tell her we’re glad to have her join us.”
Always the mother hen.
“I’ll make a point of it,” he said.
Retrieving his phone from the counter, he carried it onto the rear deck for some privacy. He’d learned from his first call to Dana. Fortunately, a stray cloud blocked the sun. For the moment, the heat of mid-day was tolerable.
Even better on the flybridge, he thought.
He climbed the ladder topside and settled into the padded chair at the helm under the Bimini top. When he dialed up Dana’s phone, the call went directly to voicemail. A surprise since he had talked to her only minutes before. Listening to her monotone message was not the same as hearing her voice in spirited conversation.
Disappointed at not being able to talk to her, he extended the invitation to dinner and asked her to call him when she had a chance. That done, he disconnected and hit Kimo’s number on speed dial.
A lot depended on him.
CHAPTER 36
Jack pressed his phone to his ear and slouched in the coolness of the flybridge.
Kimo and he went back close to a decade. Almost as long as he’d known Robert. Though it felt like they had known each other a lot longer than that.
A lifetime, in fact.
Other than Robert, Kazuko, and his brother Deacon, he trusted the old Hawaiian more than anyone. And the friendship started from the day he had to fire him. The best thing that could have happened to both of them at the time.
“Aloha, my ancient friend,” he said when Kimo answered on the sixth ring. “I didn’t wake you from a nap, did I?”
“I’m cleaning fish you stupid haole,” Kimo replied with equal cheerfulness. “What else would I be doing when I’ve been out fishing?”
“And I was supposed to know that’s what you were up to?”
“You know that’s what I do on my days off.”
“And I know you talk shit most of the time.” Jack dropped the friendly banter and adopted a serious tone. “If you have a couple of minutes to talk, I need to run something past you.”
“Sounds like another one of your escapades.”
“Would it make a difference if it was?”
“I’d be more surprised if it wasn’t. What have you gotten yourself into this time?”
“I’m not completely sure.”
“But you want my help?”
“Not directly, but yes.” Jack hoped what he was about to say didn’t cast doubt on their mutual respect. Giving thought to his words, he said, “You know you’re one of the few people I trust with my life, but I think it’s best I don’t involve you in this too much. At least not right now.”
He was well aware that if one of Takahashi’s goons got to Kimo, however unlikely that was, the less he knew about what was going on the better.
For him.
And for them.
After a moment, Kimo said, “Sounds like something that could get me killed.”
Jack thought about the incident off Kahoolawe a few years back when that had almost happened. Kimo was helping him out then, as well.
And he wasn’t supposed to end up hurt.
“That could depend on a lot of things. It’s certainly a possibility, though.”
“Why don’t you tell me what you need and we’ll go from there?”
A fresh load of canoers stroked by. Enjoying the tropical sun and the experience. Oblivious to what was transpiring so close to them.
Vacationers making the best out of their trip to the islands.
“This is the situation. Robert, Kazuko, and I, are staying on his boat. Most likely a lady friend of mine will be joining us. If what I have going runs more than a couple of days, it’d be nice to have a place ashore. The problem is, it can’t be a hotel where we would have to register. You know a lot of people on the island, and I thought perhaps you might have a suggestion or two.”
Kimo didn’t even pause to think. “My vacation rental on Kihei Road is empty until the first of the month. You can use the condo if you need to. Now what did you really want to ask me about?”
He’d read between the lines. Jack wasn’t surprised. He said, “What can you tell me about the Kaloi Channel?”
“You looking for something on Shipwreck Beach?”
Jack hesitated. He was trying to keep Kimo out of the loop as much as possible. It wasn’t working.
“Not necessarily on the beach,” he said. “What words of wisdom can you give me about the currents in that area?”
“You should know, you’ve sailed through there enough times.”
“And you’ve lived here all your life. I’m interested to get your take on them.”
“Not much I can tell you that you don’t already know. They follow the trade winds that blow through the Pailolo Channel between Molokai and Maui. Anyone with any sense who owns a boat knows no one sails through that rough water if they want to live. Even the locals avoid it.”
“You’ve got that right,” Jack said. “So there’s nothing peculiar about the Kaloi Channel that I need to know?”
“Just that all the junk dumped there ends up on that eight-mile stretch of sand and rock, along with what remains of that rusted out old World War II Liberty Ship that was run onto reef after the war.”
“No ghost stories? I know how you Hawaiian’s love your obake legends.”
“Only one.” Kimo’s voice took on a haunting tone. “When I was a boy working in the pineapple fields on Lanai, the elders used to talk about voices in the mist that settled on the island when it was cloudy. Myself, I never heard them. But there were kids who swore they had.”
“Night Marchers?”
“No. Something different.”
“Hawaiian Callers?”
“Possibly. I never heard them.”
Jack felt a prickling chill. He couldn’t ignore his interest in Hawaiian legend, but there was more to the phone call than stories of the supernatural. He wanted to know where best to look for the Orochimaru. He’d have to tell Kimo more about what was going on if he expected an answer.
And trust it didn’t get the old guy hurt . . . or worse.
CHAPTER 37
Jack gave himself a moment, building up to his next question.
The most important one of all. The one that would leave Kimo vulnerable. A target.
The possibility all too real.
He had to believe Takahashi’s thugs would never get to him.
“Question,” Jack said. “From what you just told me, if a boat sank in the Kaloi Channel, chances are the vessel would drift ashore on Shipwreck Beach along with all the other junk, right?”
“If it didn’t go straight to the bottom, and if it was far enough south. Otherwise it could end up in the Tahiti Express.”
Jack, and every other person even a little familiar with those waters, knew the term used for anything caught in the current flowing into the thousands of miles of open ocean west of Hawaii.
“She’d be lost for good if that was the case,” he said. “Where it would end up then is anybody’s guess.”
“You’d never find it, that’s for sure.”
The call went silent. Jack allowed his friend time to contemplate whatever it was that preyed on his mind.
There was no hurry.
Kimo was one of the few full-blooded Hawaiian’s left in the lower islands. Or so he claimed. His righteous native upbringing had given him a gristle core. A man so principled and secure in his convictions of right and wrong, Jack often relied on the old Hawaiian to keep him on track.
Today was no different.
With a cautious tone, Kimo said, “Now that I know you’re looking for a sunken boat, tell me it’s not the American ship London that was supposed to be carrying a cargo of gold and silver bullion.”
“I almost wish it was. But, no.”
“Good, because that boat was beat to pieces by the reef and currents nearly two hundred years ago. And who knows how much of the gold and silver was recovered at the time. There’s likely nothing of value left to find.”
“Like I told you, it’s not the London,” Jack said. “I’m looking for a big motor yacht named Orochimaru. Owned by a wealthy Korean businessman. There’s a chance it went down in that area a few days ago.”
“And your interest in this boat is what?”
“Something onboard could save my life.”
Jack knew he was laying it all on the line. There was little choice.
He’d bet on their friendship.
After a brief silence, Kimo said, “You’ll have a devil-of-a-time sorting through all the junk that’s out there. You can count on that. I, for one, wouldn’t want to be in your shoes.”
“You understand I have to try?”
“I understand it’s who you are,” Kimo said. “You sure there’s nothing else you need from me?”
“Now that you asked, there is one favor.” Jack paused a beat, relieved his friend was willing to help. “The dive equipment I borrowed from you a few months back, I need to borrow it again. We didn’t plan on doing any diving this trip.”
“And you still might not,” Kimo said. “But if the boat remained in one piece, you might get lucky.”
“We’ll just have to hope it has,” Jack said. “And I do have one other favor to ask. Can you bring the dive equipment to Maalaea Harbor, say 5:30? I’m without a car at the moment.”
“Sure, if that’s what you need me to do.”
“I appreciate it.”
For a moment, Kimo said nothing. Then, he said, “I’m guessing someone doesn’t want you to find that boat. That’s why you’re hiding out aboard Robert’s sportfisher. Aren’t you afraid of being seen when you come ashore?”
“That’s why I’d like you to be there waiting. A quick in and out for us. Before they have a chance to see shit.”
“Still seems a little risky.”
Jack wasn’t about to kid himself.
And he wouldn’t lie to Kimo.
“That luck you spoke of a minute ago,” he said. “That’s something I could use a lot of right now.”
CHAPTER 38
Chiharu Taka
hashi stood facing the window. The drapes were open. Through a crack in the clouds, the late afternoon sun blazed on her pale white skin. She closed her eyes, and though dressed in a light sweater and slacks, savored the short-lived warmth that would last but a minute or two.
As it had her frail mother, the heat soothed arthritic joints—pain and stiffness passed unceremoniously from one generation to the next. But the resemblance between her and her mother ended there. Though the two of them possessed the same thick, waist-length black hair and shapeliness, she was a full head taller, with facial features and a shrewd personality more like her father’s. From him, she’d learned the sinister operations of the criminal underworld and all that was to be gained from it.
Take what you can, give nothing back.
A pirate’s code.
But she also learned all that it could take away.
Her father’s eventual arrest and subsequent death in prison was proof of that.
The attack on him by a rival organization served to strengthen her determination not to make the same mistakes her father had. Drugs had been his downfall. Leading only to his demise, and thus serving no purpose at all.
A lesson that served her well.
Drawing on the inner strength and his teaching, she took over the family business at an early age when her mother lacked the resolve. And keeping to her beliefs, she’d amassed a fortune from human trafficking, stolen art treasures, and high-class prostitution and escort services that, through blackmail, gained her invaluable legal and government contacts.
A chill that had not been present in the room a minute ago, opened her eyes. Outside, the storm darkened clouds had massed together to block out the sun, turning the ocean to a gray slate of loneliness intensified by the absence of Maiko’s soothing words and warm touch.
An irreplaceable loss.
Perhaps in time, she thought. But not now. She realized her biggest mistake was underestimating the complications that could arise in a complex plan such as hers. The sea could never be trusted.
There are no second chances.
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