by Mimi Barbour
“Not if he flew in a private jet. My take is he’d have to get Kean off the island right away because he’d know we could shut down all exits in a very short time. In fact, I’ve already issued the Amber Alert and it’s being put in place as we speak.”
“Thank God.”
“I took those pictures of Kean at the barbecue on Sunday and I’ve given his likeness to the team, and they’re being sent to every known exit point from the island, including marinas and helicopter companies. There’s a cruise ship that docked earlier at the Honolulu pier located in the harbor. We’ve sent agents there too.”
“Thank God! I’m a mess, I can’t think straight. Sloan, I think that Libby came back and took him. She’s working for Paul and, after being at the house earlier, she’d know her way in and out.”
The silence from Sloan was nerve-wracking. “You think so? How about checking the video feed from after we left the house and see if you can make out the person. Unfortunately, I have the cameras pointing at the Amans’ place, but on the center cam you might just be able to pick up anyone sneaking around in the yard.”
“Good idea! I’ll do that and get back to you.”
“I’ll go with the team to the airport and let you know what we find as soon as we arrive. And, baby. Don’t be scared. Paul only wants him to force you to do his bidding. He won’t hurt him.”
“I know. It’s the only thing keeping me breathing.” She hung up the phone and ran to the front room, meeting Don as he returned after his search.
“Did you see the kitten?” She asked him just in case his theory about Kean searching for a runaway cat could be true.
“No. I called for both Kean and the cat. Woke up Sam and Janna and they’re out there searching too. Did you get in touch with Sloan?”
“Just hung up. He’s headed for the airport, and he’s initiated an Amber Alert so everyone is on the lookout for Kean.”
“Why in the world would he do that? The kid’s obviously taken off on his own, no doubt chasing his cat.”
“You don’t understand, Don. His father threatened to take him away from me and I’m sure he’s kidnapped Kean.”
“His father? Shit, why didn’t you say something earlier? I’d have gotten the agency involved right from the get-go.”
“Sloan’s taken care of that now. I think a woman called Libby is in on the abduction. She works for my husband.” Alia held out her phone to Don, showing the PI’s website.
“How could she have been here earlier? This says she works out of Chicago.”
“Les brought her over.”
Don looked completely dumbfounded. “What? How does she know Les?” Confusion lit up his face and he shook his head as if to clear the cobwebs.
“Right. You don’t know this part. It seems that she’s been in Honolulu tailing me and got into a little fender-bender. So she took her car into Sloan’s garage for repairs and when Roy fell, they used it to take him to the hospital. Then Les and Libby brought Kean back here.”
“So you figure she’s taken Kean.” He scratched his head. “I’m thinking you might want to call Les. He has a way with women, and if I know him, he’ll have gotten her phone number. In the meantime, I’ll play back the video feed and see if we picked up anyone near the premises earlier.”
“Thanks, Don. Sloan suggested checking that too.” Alia swallowed hard, controlling the hysteria hovering on the edge of sanity and whipped her phone from his hand. “I’ll call Les now. I’m so rattled, I never thought of it. Do you have his number?”
She frantically began hitting the numbers on the screen until she’d screwed up the second time, and he took the phone from her and hit the right ones himself. Then he pushed speaker phone and held it up.
Les answered on the second ring, his voice raspy from just being woken. “Yeah?”
“Les, do you happen to have Libby’s phone number?”
“Hold on, I’ll ask her.”
Chapter Fifty-five
“What was that all about?” Libby seemed shaken. Les figured she’d heard his end of the conversation.
He slid out of the bed they’d just shared and started pulling on his jeans. “Shit’s happening. Kean’s gone missing, and Alia’s losing her cool. When I told her you were here, she started bawling and Don took the phone. Don, not Sloan. I don’t know what the fuck is going on, but I’m heading over there right now to find out.”
Libby rolled out from under the covers, her naked skin glowing in the light from the candles he’d lit to romance her. He stopped for a second and felt his body reengage. He couldn’t get over how perfect she was. The old doll had kept her figure and she looked good for her fifty-something years.
Breaking out from her spell, he began hauling on his Booker’s shirt and grabbed the brush to get his hair tied back. By the time he’d finished, she’d gotten into her clothes and was looking for her cell phone. “I think I know where he might be.”
“Who?”
“Kean. The kid.”
“How in hell would you know?”
“I used to work for his dad, the asshole.”
Still not getting the connection, Les stopped and grabbed her arms. “Tell me.”
Libby fiddled with her phone and it took a few seconds before she met his gaze. Her eyes were full of regret, and from the amount of tears that had gathered he knew it wouldn’t be long before they spilled over onto her cheeks.
“He’s a real number, that one. I’m talking about Paul Landon, Alia’s husband. He hired me to find his son, told me this long bullshit story about how Kean’s mother was a workaholic, a drug addict, and that he needed to save the kid from her, bring him back to Chicago where he had a judge willing to grant him full custody.”
“Alia? Seriously? One look at the broad and anyone with a brain could see she loves her kid.”
“I know that now, but I didn’t when I took the job. I’d been overworking. Looking for runaway kids, finding evidence on cheating wives, mostly bitches who didn’t deserve the lives their hard-working men were providing. When Landon came along, I’d just finished with a horrible case where a mother had been abusing her kid, locking him in the basement for punishment. I needed a break from all the sadness. So when Landon called, I jumped at the chance to come to Hawaii and keep tabs on his Kean.”
Les had started to pull away. “You gave him Sloan’s address.”
“Yeah, after I tailed the taxi to the house, I gave him that address. It was listed in the details from the investigation but I hadn’t known they’d moved in. You saw me then, didn’t you?”
“Uh, huh.”
“You knew who I was when I came into the garage earlier. I thought you recognized me.”
“Yep.”
“Les you’ve got to know this. I also reported that Kean was happy. That Alia was a great mom and to leave them the hell alone. He got so mad, the prick fired me. The bastard didn’t deserve a kid like Kean.”
“Okay. I believe you. But that still doesn’t get the kid back. I’ve gotta go.”
“Wait. I think I might know where he might be. If Paul actually took him that is. When he first hired me, we were shooting the shit and he said once I had located the boy, he would come and pick him up himself because the kid knew him and would listen to what he said. Then he mentioned a boat he often rented for deep-sea fishing when he was here on the island. He could have rented the boat today and taken Kean to one of the other islands where he could get the kid away without anyone knowing.”
“Shit, woman, with his money, he could do anything. Do you know the name of the boat?” Les held his breath. Could they be this lucky?
Libby swiped at her eyes, sniffed and grinned. “Actually, I don’t. But I know where the marina’s located.” She passed on the information.
“I know the place, been there myself with Roy and Sloan.”
“Paul had bragged about a restaurant that served fresh fish close by, and I went there to try it. I’m thinking if we checked the place out, we could
find if my hunch is right. If I remember correctly, when I strolled by, there was a guard at the gate. He might have seen something.”
Les hugged her and then swung away to grab for his phone. “I’m calling Sloan. Either back your car out of the drive so I can get mine out, or we’ll take my bike. Your choice.”
Within minutes, Les could tell Libby loved riding passenger on his Harley. It made his heart kinda sing. Most women her age wouldn’t have anything to do with motorcycles or the men who rode them. Her arms encircling his chest made his heart swell. And her laughter ringing in his ears had him grinning like a youngster on his first ride.
Pre-dawn in the city was normally gray and bleak, even on the magical island of Oahu, but this early in the new day they were fortunate with a full moon guiding them.
A Banyan tree – majestic with its foliage spreading wide, its aerial roots drooping to the ground like clusters of pale legs holding the weight – never failed to catch his attention when he traveled this street. Today, it seemed extra magnificent having the sky’s golden sphere as a backdrop.
Streetlights began dimming as the sun broke the horizon and traffic appeared to double with each minute. The drivers at this hour weren’t in a rush and consideration for the next guy was still in evidence.
They made it to the marina in time to see the last of the lights fade and the place looked deserted. No one policed the guard’s small hut at this early morning hour.
“What should we do?” Libby’s question caught him off guard.
“We’ll wait until Sloan arrives. He has the authority to throw his weight around and make things happen.”
“Look, I know a way we can sneak in and check things out in the meantime.”
He couldn’t stop the chuckle that broke free. This woman amazed him. “Okay, I’m game. What do you have in mind?”
“When I was here yesterday, I sat at the café, outside, and watched some of the kids crawl in through that chain link fence back there. It’s broken away from the post. If we sneak in now and find anyone around at this hour, maybe someone has seen something that might help us find Kean.”
“Okay. Lead the way.” Les sent a text to let Sloan know they were going into the marina, in case they weren’t back in time to meet up with him out front.
Chapter Fifty-six
“You’re going where?” Sloan couldn’t believe that Les was involved in Kean’s disappearance until he explained about Libby and him getting together. Once he’d told Sloan everything, Sloan jumped into action. “Thanks, Les. I’m on my way.” He ended the call.
“Pat, can you head back to the city?” He’d commandeered Pat to be his driver when they’d planned to search the airport. After passing on his change of plans to the SWAT team leader, Henry, who already had uniforms searching the departure lounges at the airport and the airline manifests, he explained his new information.
“Good luck, Booker. I’ll send back-up. Keep me informed.”
Sloan took a minute to call Alia and let her know his change of plans. “There’re men at the airport right now, baby. They have Kean’s photo and will stop him being taken off the island. In the meantime, I have a new lead that he might be at the marina. Turns out, Paul bragged to Libby that he likes to go deep-sea fishing whenever he’s here in Hawaii.”
“It’s true, Sloan. He had a picture of the boat in his office. Mind you that’s a lot of years ago. It was called Lia Mine. I’ll never forget it because Paul made a joke about the name when we met. I’m coming right now. I’ll meet you there.”
“Good. We’ll probably arrive at the same time. I’ll watch for you. And Alia? I… ahhh, you know I’ll do whatever it takes to get Kean back. Trust me.”
“I do. That’s why I… I like you so damn much.”
“I like you too, baby. See you soon.”
Sloan sat on tenterhooks all the way to the marina, and by the time Pat peeled into the lot, he’d lost his cool multiple times and had to swallow back the acid gathering in his throat. Who knew fear had a taste? Guess he’d never been on a job before that mattered so fucking much.
Sensing his issues, Pat hadn’t said a word but now he spoke. “What’s the plan?”
“Alia will be arriving soon. But I’m not waiting. The guard’s just starting his shift so I’m going to ask him about a boat called Lia Mine. It’s the one that Alia remembers Paul used to hire.”
“What do you want me to do?”
Sloan searched his phone’s photo gallery for Kean’s picture, got Pat’s number and sent it to him. “Can you stay here and wait for backup. And, if anyone tries to leave with this kid, stop them.”
“You got it.”
Sloan ran over to speak to the arriving guard who was unlocking the gate. “I’m Agent Sloan Booker with the FBI. He flashed his badge. Did anyone come in the late hours of the night with a boy who looks like this?”
The guard, a Hawaiian that Sloan had seen around occasionally, shook his head. “We close the gates at midnight. After that, anyone who comes and goes has a key. Besides, I wasn’t on duty last night. I work dayshift.”
“Do you have a boat moored here called Lia Mine?”
“Used to. She’s gone now.”
“What do you mean gone?”
“That old girl hit the rocks a few years back. Sunk off the reefs near Maui.”
Shit! “Did the owners replace her?”
“Oh sure. They called her replacement My Lia II.”
“Can you tell me which slip she docks from?”
“Yep. But you won’t find her there. She left on a trip about a week ago. Haven’t seen her return.”
Suddenly a text message dinged and Sloan checked to see it was from Les.
Bingo!
Chapter Fifty-seven
Before Sloan could text back, Alia rushed up to where he was, her face full of the same fear that had ridden him since he’d heard that Kean was missing.
“Did you find the boat?”
“According to the guard, Lia Mine sunk a while back, and My Lia II replaced her but it left the marina a week ago.”
“Oh no.” Her eyes filled.
Swollen and blotchy from previous tears, they broke his heart. This woman had suffered enough because of her bastard ex-husband. He needed to get back her son, needed to do it badly.
His priorities had shifted since they’d met. He’d fallen for her, no two ways about it. Now she was his everything—her and the boy.
He wrapped one arm around her to pull her close and give her comfort. She stiffened, as if by habit, but he didn’t let go and then she sagged gratefully, seeking his warmth. He held his phone in the other hand.
“Honey, Libby and Les are here looking for him, and I just got a text from Les that they found something.” While he talked his thumb flew over the screen and he hit send.
They waited, hardly breathing. The ding let them know that Les had answered.
Sloan read aloud the message. “Slip #4, Boat #6.”
He quickly asked the guard where that location would be and they followed his directions, arriving in time to see Libby and Les crouched behind another boat berthed around the corner.
Sloan squatted next to Les, with Alia bringing up the rear. He pointed to the craft they were watching. “What makes you think he’s there? How did you find the boat?”
Libby answered. “Pure bloody luck. The kid’s giving his dad a hell of a time. He was yelling his head off. We just happened past and heard the ruckus.”
Alia started forward. “Is Paul hurting him?”
Les held her back and spoke quickly. “No. Nothing like that. The kid’s madder’n a hornet for being taken away from you.”
Sloan and Alia stood up and headed for the boat that Les and Libby had indicated. No sooner were they in front, the engine started up and a man appeared to untie the lines.
Sloan pulled out his badge. “FBI. Just stop what you’re doing. We need to talk.”
Looking relieved, the fellow threw down the rop
es and walked over to the controls on the deck. He turned off the motor. “What can I do for you, officer?”
“Agent Sloan Booker and this is my partner, Agent Hawkins. We’d like to come aboard and talk with you, sir.”
“As you can see, I’m headed out on a day trip. Have a customer who’s paying the shot and time’s a-wastin’.”
“It’s that customer I’m interested in. Can I come aboard?”
“Sure. I haven’t done anything wrong that I’m aware of.”
Sloan climbed the ladder onto the boat and helped Alia aboard also. Les and Libby brought up the rear. “Have you seen this boy?”
The captain seemed uncomfortable as he studied the photo. Before he could answer, Kean yelled, “Sloan, I’m in here. Ow! Let me go, you creep.”
Kean appeared on the stairs leading down into a cabin. He held the tabby kitten protectively. Close behind came Paul, his face full of fury, he cheek bearing scratches and his whole manner that of a man close to losing it completely.
Kean ran to his mother, to her open arms, and his telltale sob awakened every protective cell in Sloan’s body. Before he could step forward, Paul had moved into Alia’s space. “You. What kind of mother are you? The kid’s a freaking brat.” Paul pointed his finger and continued his rant. “He kicked me, bit me, wouldn’t take orders and go to sleep. He’s a—”
Suddenly, before anyone could stop her, the kitten flew out of Kean’s arms and tore a strip of skin off Paul’s face.
“Goddamnit!” Paul screamed and flung the cat away from him. It landed on its feet, back arched, its fangs still showing. Paul’s finger again poked in front of Alia’s face. “That blasted cat’s as big a menace as the kid.”
Sloan reached for the stupid prick, but Alia beat him to it. He’d never seen anyone get flipped over so fast and all because his finger had been where it didn’t belong.
The shmuck ended up face down on the deck, her knee in his back, his cheek being ground into the netting where he’d landed. Alia, her beautiful face full of determination, her blue eyes spitting revenge, leaned over him and her words made him proud.