I watched Blake close the door and saw Danny pick up one more chair and hurtle it at the camera in the corner of the room. It didn’t appear to hit the camera, but the screen went all fuzzy, then black.
“What happened?” I looked at Keena.
“He said now. That was the signal to cut the feed.”
I had been so caught up in what I was watching I’d completely forgotten. “Oh. I thought he hit the camera.”
“I think that’s what he was going for,” Jenna said over my shoulder.
Keena nodded. “I cut the feed as close to impact as possible.”
“Keena, can you get a feed of the main room?”
“Sure, Ryan. But I still have direct audio through Danny in the interrogation room if you want to listen.” She handed me one of the earpieces.
“Can anyone else hear this?”
“No, just you and I. It’s our direct comm.”
I pushed the earpiece into my ear and listened carefully to the conversation in the interrogation room.
“So if they’re not holding anything over you, why would they think you’d go along with it?” Danny asked quietly, the rage absent. “Why wouldn’t you tell someone else?”
“I wouldn’t say they weren’t holding something over me. It may not be my family in that house, but I certainly wasn’t going to jeopardize yours.” Nicole sounded calm. “They told me they would kill Reagan and the girls if I told anyone. How would they know? I don’t know. But if there was a chance they would—if I’d told you and someone had killed them, I couldn’t live with that.”
“And what if waiting to tell us was what ended up killing them?”
“Well…” There was a lengthy pause. “Then I guess I’d have to live with that.”
“Look,” I heard Danny answer. “What you’re saying makes sense—all of it. If they thought Lazzo was dead, this would all be over. They’d either leave the hostages or kill them, and then they wouldn’t need me to come to Kauai for the next set of instructions. Unless …”
“Unless what?” I heard Kate’s voice in the background.
“Unless they’re hoping to capture me somehow and still get what they wanted in the first place.” Danny didn’t sound convinced.
“You could look at it another way.” Nicole clearly had something in mind.
“What’s that?” Danny asked.
“Why take Hayley? Why her specifically?”
“To get me to do what they want.”
“Okay. But why take her to America? Why not just keep her here somewhere?”
“What are you getting at?”
“What if it’s not Hayley they want at all, but you?”
“What?”
“Well, why specifically ask you to come to the compound—and alone? Why not take one of the younger girls to America instead of Hayley? Or Reagan?”
“Okay.” The skepticism clouding Danny’s voice earlier was gone. “Keep going.”
“They don’t want you to think Hayley is dead—even if she is. My guess would be that was a message their contact on the ship didn’t want to send…but had to. Think about it…if you knew Hayley was dead, they wouldn’t get what they want from you. You’d be going to Kauai to free the girls immediately. We’d be seeing or hearing something from the kidnappers…something! It’s been silent on that front. They’re still expecting you tonight, as planned. And they think you’ll still follow through.”
“So they’re just going to kill me tonight?”
“No. I don’t think so. I think they want you to follow your sister.”
“So Hayley is some kind of bait for Danny? This wasn’t a random kidnapping?” That was Kate.
Nicole responded immediately. “I believe Hayley was intentionally targeted, yes.”
“And you don’t think this is a trap tonight?” Danny basically repeated his earlier question—clearly still digesting Nicole’s theory.
“No, Danny, I don’t.” Nicole sounded pretty certain. “If they just wanted to kill you, why wait until tonight. Why wait until after the rescue planes have left the carrier for Colorado? They don’t want you to alert anyone. They don’t want you to stop them. They want you to go after your sister. Whatever it is, they want something from you Danny…something the rest of us don’t have. But they need to make sure the exchange occurs in their favor—so that would exclude it happening here in Hawaii or on the carrier.”
“How does Nicole know the flight times and rescue details?” I asked Keena.
“We all have a copy.” Keena opened a drawer and handed me a green folder. “Check for yourself. Everything she’s said checks out. She could be right.”
Danny hadn’t said anything in a little while. Finally I heard his voice again. “Let’s say I completely agree with you. I still have one question. Why me? Why not the governor? What do I have that no one else does?”
I heard Kate say Lazzo’s name.
“What?” Danny asked.
“Oh … oh no—Danny …”
“What, Kate?”
“Danny, I never told you because it was stupid…or I thought it was stupid.” Kate paused. “A few days ago, when you guys all came here for the Pack meeting, I caught Lazzo coming out of our room at the tree house.”
“What?” Danny sounded equal parts angry and surprised.
“I’m sorry. I asked him what he was doing, and he said he needed some—”
“What, Kate? Needed some what?”
“Underwear …”
What the hell? I looked around the room before remembering only Keena was following this with me. I raised my eyebrows at her. She shrugged. Underwear? Personally, I understood why Kate hadn’t said anything to Danny. Lazzo needed Danny’s underwear? That is stupid.
Danny was silent. I was waiting for him to reply, but he didn’t.
Kate spoke up instead. “Danny? Do you know what he was really in there for?”
Danny answered quietly. “I think so.”
“What did he find?” Nicole asked.
“Nothing,” Danny replied. “He didn’t find it, because I had it with me. But now I know what ‘come prepared’ meant on the note.”
What? What did he have with him? What is he supposed to bring? Again I looked around at everyone in the room before locking eyes with Keena. She shrugged, but something in her expression suggested she had an idea what Danny was talking about. I continued watching her face as the conversation in the earpiece resumed.
“What was he looking for, Danny?” Kate asked.
I heard a door open and Danny say the words, “The book. They want the book.”
Apparently Keena’s suspicions had been accurate. She was nodding.
Wait…so Sam was killed over—holy cow! It registered with me then. Sam really is the one who went overboard. Sam is dead. Lazzo killed Sam. Lazzo took Hayley. Lazzo did all of this! Over a book? A book?
Lazzo had tried to get this book without kidnapping anyone—without casualties. When that failed and he couldn’t find it, he took someone he knew would draw the book out of hiding, someone he knew Danny would come after. This wasn’t plan A. It was plan B. Damn it!
I suddenly realized I’d said that out loud. “What?” Deacon asked.
“Everything Nicole said was right. This was never about Hayley. There is a much bigger plan.”
“What kind of plan?” Royce asked.
“Remember the book Danny told us about in the Elephant Box?” Keena turned and addressed Deacon and Royce.
“That’s what they want,” Deacon stated more than asked.
Keena nodded. I shook my head in disbelief, but none of the Pack members looked even remotely surprised. They must have known what was in that book. “Son of a bitch.” What is really going on here? I placed my head in my hands.
Son … of ... a ... bitch.
TWENTY-TWO – Whack-a-Mole (Ryan)
---------- (Wednesday. August 3, 2022.) ----------
Danny had to think quickly. If Nicole was right, then
the mole would be watching Danny when he left the room. They’d be looking for signs of what Nicole had told him—trying to determine if she had violated her instructions. The lives of Reagan, Abbey, Emily, and perhaps even Hayley depended on Danny selling the mole a story. But what story? Given his destruction in the room, he’d have to come out angry. He needed to make another scene.
I thought he would come right out and say Nicole was the mole—let the real mole think he or she was still safe. It seemed to me that wouldn’t be far-fetched—that doing so wouldn’t jeopardize Hayley or the others. But that wasn’t remotely what Danny did.
The main room was visible on our screen now. Danny came out of the interrogation room and into view. We watched him flip a cart full of papers and books. Everyone in the room—here on Redemption and there in Area 52—seemed to jump at once. Danny walked directly toward Blake. “This is your fault.” His punch caught Blake by surprise, and he spilled backward over the table.
Blake hit the floor and bounced right back up, rubbing his jaw. “Danny, what the hell? What did she say? Whatever it was you can’t possibly believe her. Did she say I’m the mole?”
Jenna and Kaci were beside Keena and me, screaming at Danny through the screen. He couldn’t hear them—of course—as he rounded the table, still going after Blake. Trigger and Twix moved in between them as Danny continued shouting. “I know what you did, you son of a bitch. They’re all dead because of you.”
“Danny, it wasn’t me—”
“Shut up.” Danny lunged at Blake, but Twix grabbed him. “Just shut up. Don’t you see what you’ve done? If you would have just gone along like you were supposed to. If you would have just done your job!”
“But you—”
“Don’t you dare. This is all on you. If anything happens to Hayley, it’s all on you.” Danny clawed at Twix, but the Navy SEAL held him back.
I shared Jenna and Kaci’s bewilderment, but I remained silent. I had heard everything in the other room—or I thought I had. But Danny seemed possessed by something else now. This didn’t seem to have anything to do with what Nicole had told him. What the hell are you doing, Danny?
Danny raged on. “I trusted you to take care of Hayley. You …Blake … if she’s dead, so help me God…”
Blake looked stunned. Danny slumped to the floor, and Twix turned toward Trigger and Blake. “Get him out of here,” Danny said, loud enough for everyone to hear. “I don’t ever want to see him again.”
“Okay, this doesn’t make any sense?” I revealed my frustration to the rest of the room. “This isn’t Blake’s fault …”
“Ryan,” Dad chimed in.
“What?” I snapped.
“I’m sure there’s a logical explanation. You and Keena listened to the entire conversation in the interrogation room. Isn’t all this related to that?”
“What did Nicole say?” Kaci was yelling at me now. “Seriously? He just beat the crap out of my brother. What did she say about him?”
“Nothing.” I looked at Keena for support. “Did we hear anything about Blake in there?” Keena just shook her head.
Deacon spoke up. “Put it this way, Ryan…if you’re confused, I’m sure the mole is too. I’m with your pops on this one. I don’t know why Danny just did that, but he sure made it look good.”
Twix and Trigger quickly escorted Blake out of the room as he yelled back at Danny, “Come on…what did I do? Danny…” He sounded like he was going to cry.
We heard Twix tell him to shut up, and they were gone.
My eyes were now fixed on Danny sitting on the floor. Kate walked over to him and knelt beside him. He buried his head in her shoulder, and she sat there in silence, rubbing his back.
Jenna and Kaci remained glued beside me, eyes fixated on the screen, still trying to get some clue as to what had happened and why. We watched as Danny slowly stood up and walked out of the room, in the opposite direction of where they’d taken Blake. Kate watched him walk away, and then Nicole helped her up. “I’m sorry,” I heard Nicole say to Kate. “I wish I could—”
Kate quieted her. “It’s not your fault. We should have trusted you.” And then Kate walked out of the room the way Blake had exited.
Jenna turned to me. “Ryan, what—”
I could only shrug and look at my dad and Deacon. “Honestly, don’t ask me.”
Jenna’s sudden concern for Blake was interesting. When we’d first come to Hawaii, she and Blake had been pretty close—almost a couple. Apparently it had been some kind of rebound after Cameron’s death for Jenna, or Blake had been unwilling to risk hurting her—who knew—but one of them had called it off for some reason. And now Jenna was back to wearing Cameron’s ring, and she and Blake didn’t spend much time alone together. But clearly there was still something there.
An hour later, everyone arrived back at Redemption—except for Blake. Kaci and Jenna ran down the dock in a fury toward Danny, but Trigger and Twix cut them off. “Easy,” Twix said.
“Danny, what the hell did you do?” Jenna screamed. “What did Blake have to—”
“How dare you blame this on Blake.” Kaci pointed her finger at him, trying to squeeze past Trigger.
“Let them through, guys,” Danny said wearily. The girls slipped past Trigger and Twix. “Kaci, Jenna…he’s fine. Blake and I are good.”
“What do you mean?” Kaci yelled. “That wasn’t fine!”
Yeah, what? I was so confused. “Danny, I listened to that entire conversation, and there was nothing even said about Bla—”
“Calm down. All of you. I had to take precautions based on what Nicole told us in that room. Someone at Area 52 is watching us. Someone is making sure this plan doesn’t get derailed. Nicole told us a lot, but I couldn’t hang her out to dry. I couldn’t let anyone think I even suspected her.”
“But Blake—”
“Kaci, I know this is hard to understand.” Danny reached out for her arm, but she stepped away. “I had to make the real mole feel as safe now as they were before I walked into that room. I don’t care who it was—which one of them—but I know it’s not Blake.”
“But—”
This time when Danny reached out for her she didn’t move away. “However,” Danny continued. “I needed to put Blake in place in case I’m right. I couldn’t use anyone else. No one would ever believe I could take on either of these guys.” He pointed to Trigger and Twix. “They’d kill me. Blake was the only one who would take it—even if he could probably kill me too.”
We were silent, listening. Seems Dad and Deacon were right. “So Blake knew—”
“No, Blake didn’t know I was going to hit him. He had no idea what I was yelling at him about. I couldn’t warn him, and I couldn’t let him speak. It needed to be real. He needed to be surprised.”
“I don’t think surprised is the right word.” I shook my head.
“Fine, then maybe it worked. Hopefully it worked. If you listened to the entire conversation and still don’t get it, then the mole will probably be just as confused.”
“I get it now.”
“Okay, Dad.” Danny didn’t sound like he believed me. “Anyway, I told Twix to get him out of the room immediately, and I sent Kate after him to explain it all. She took him to the airport and had Axel hide him on a plane.”
“Hide him?” Kaci was still lost.
“What’s in the book?” I asked.
“Yes.” Danny nodded to Kaci first, before he answered me. “I can’t tell you what’s in the book, Dad, but you have a pretty good idea how important it is. Lazzo took Hayley so I’d be forced to bring the book to him—though nothing in it would be of any use to him personally, so he clearly intends to turn it over to someone. That’s what I gathered from that conversation with Nicole. It’s a gut feeling, but I think they’re having me come alone tonight with no intention of letting me come back here.”
“You think they’re going to kill you tonight? But I thought you said—”
“No, Dad. I don
’t think that. The ‘come prepared’ on the note has to mean ‘bring the book.’ But I doubt they’d take it from me here on the islands—not with everyone knowing where they are. If anything happened to me tonight, they know they’re all dead. They have to be sending me somewhere else. The exchange will be taking place elsewhere.”
“How do you know that?” Tara asked.
“Well, it’s an assumption—of course. But they don’t know I assume that—and maybe I’m even wrong about their intentions. But—if I’m right—then this was my one chance to take an advantage by hiding Blake on a plane. Like I said earlier. I couldn’t take Trigger or Twix by surprise. They’d have beaten the crap out of me. But Blake—he wouldn’t have fought back initially, and Trigger and Twix would’ve broken it up before I got a second punch in. It was a split-second decision—and maybe it was the wrong one—but for now, I think it kept everyone alive.”
Danny let that sink in and then addressed all of us. “It was a foolish oversight to ignore the possibility of enemy survivors in these attacks. Obviously there are others here in Hawaii who are a part of all this too. Maybe they’re even Americans. Nicole indicated the person at the base who held her up and gave her the instructions was white—possibly even American. We don’t know how high up this goes. What we do know is I have what they want, and they…” He glanced in the direction of Kauai. “They have what I want.”
“But Lazzo…” Tara spoke up.
“Yeah, I know.” Danny looked at her. “I didn’t see that coming. I really thought he and his brother were on our side…that they didn’t want to be a part of this takeover anymore.” Danny paused and looked out over the water. “Maybe he blamed me for Eddie’s death.”
It can’t be that. Lazzo had to have had this mission before Eddie died. “Okay, so Danny, I hear what you’re saying. But why would he need to take Hayley away? Why not keep her on Kauai, make the exchange here, and then take off?”
Danny rubbed his forehead. “Like I said, Dad, I don’t think what’s in this book is of use to anyone here. I think Lazzo is trying to get it to someone on the mainland. Maybe they’ve guaranteed him something. Beyond that, I’m at as much of a loss as you.”
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