Darby Stansfield Thriller Series (Books 1-3 & Bonus Novella)

by Ty Hutchinson

  Tav looked at me and I shrugged. He turned back to Tobias. “What kind of bombs?”

  “The kind that blew people up. That was his passion: blowing up people. You know it was a Seamus O’Callaghan bomb when there were body parts everywhere.”

  Well, he won’t find me killing people, let alone trying to blow them up. I looked at Tav, who was completely engaged by Izzy’s father. His eyes were wide and his mouth hung open in awe. Come on, Tav. Stay strong. We’re trying to pick his brain, not make him our hero.

  I figured it was my turn to engage. “How did you catch him?”

  Tobias shifted his gaze from Tav to me. I could feel the weight transferred onto my shoulders. He lifted up both hands and squeezed them into fists. “I caught him with my bare hands.”

  Oh, for crying out loud. Someone tell this man to save his dramatic overtones for a soap opera. I couldn’t take any more of Tobias. I excused myself and went out on the lanai for a little fresh air. A few seconds later, Izzy appeared by my side and put her arms around me.

  “How are you holding up?”

  “Your father is telling us war stories.”

  “Let me guess, Seamus O’Callaghan, the bomber he caught with his bare hands.”

  I laughed.

  “Shhh,” Izzy whispered and then followed up with a few kisses.

  “Your sister’s pretty cool,” she said.

  “Yeah she is. I wish we saw more of each other.”

  “You never talk about her, though. Actually I don’t think I’ve ever heard you mention a sister.”

  “I know.” I turned to Izzy and brushed her hair out of her eyes. “Maybe it’s because she’s out of sight, so therefore she’s out of mind. I see how close you are to your family, especially your sister, and I’m a little envious.”

  “Well, my sister and I practically talk every day, so that helps. Plus the situation is different. Your sister is married and has a kid.” Izzy clapped her hand across her mouth with wide eyes. “Oh, my God. It just dawned on me; You’re an uncle.”

  “That I am,” I said with a big smile.

  “Do you talk to your nephew at all?”

  “Not as much as I should. I send him presents for his birthday and Christmas, but that’s about it. Now I feel guilty.”

  “Don’t. It takes two to keep a relationship going. My sister is single and has tons of time to chat me up, but that doesn’t mean she should be the one responsible for making the calls or IMing or whatever. Know what I mean?”

  I smiled and nodded. “I’m happy,” I said.

  “Me too. I love my ring,” Izzy said as she raised her hand. “I can’t stop looking at it. It’s strange because I don’t wear jewelry and didn’t really think I would care that much about a ring until I saw this one on my finger.”

  “I’m glad you like it.” I leaned in and gave her a long kiss. That’s when I felt the buzzing in my pants. Souza had been calling me all night. He would have to leave a message, again.

  Chapter 36

  Izzy and I spent most of the week entertaining our guests. We were having a good time showing them around because it was an opportunity for us to experience the island along with them, something we hadn’t done much of so far.

  Today we were all at Hanauma Bay, on the opposite side of the island. This is where everyone swims with the fishes, literally. The waters in the bay are relatively calm. Couple that with an abundance of sea life used to being around humans and we could practically touch the fish, even though we’re not supposed to.

  Before heading out, I swung by the store and picked up disposable cameras that were waterproof—one for each person. Everyone loved it and got snap happy. Even my soon-to-be father-in-law let loose and swam around like a kid. Our guests were having a great time.

  Later that night, I found a moment to return Souza’s call. Turns out they had a couple of glitches with the ID card system. The problems sounded typical, nothing I couldn’t fix the next day, except I would have to find a way to disappear tomorrow for a few hours without it looking strange to our guests or Izzy.

  That’s where Tav came in. He was willing to help me out with any gang-related activity so long as I got him into a cockfight before he left. We concocted some stupid thing about how Tav promised his mom he would take pictures of the large Mormon Temple in Laie, knowing no one else would want to go. I was his chauffeur. On the way over there, I called Souza. “Should I meet you at the mall?”

  “Nah, brah. Just come to the house.”

  “Uh, I have a friend with me. He’s visiting.”

  “Friend? Brah, the house not one tourist attraction. Get rid of him.”

  “Where? We’re already on our way.”

  “I dunno. Just don’t bring him here.”

  • • •

  “What do you mean I have to hang out here at the mall?”

  “I can’t bring you where I’m going. The gang won’t allow it. They even blindfolded me on my first trip to the house but now I’ve got their trust and directions. I won’t be long. Do some souvenir shopping.”

  Tav understood what I was saying, but still didn’t like getting dumped off somewhere. But this was business; I had to maintain trust with the gang and a code of silence.

  As soon as I set foot on the lanai at the back of the house, one of the NBB members handed me a cold beer. There were maybe five of them hanging out. The jolly Akahi, as usual, sat in the corner in his recliner. Roger Kwan had pulled up a stool next to him and they were engaged in hushed conversation, again. Neither of them looked at me when I arrived. I waited patiently, sipping my beer.

  Roger stood up. His arms rippled from movement. He had a look on his face that I didn’t want to push. “Brah, do we work for you or do you work for us?” he asked with a steady voice.

  “I… work for the gang,” I said, nervously.

  “Then how come when we call, you don’t answer? Souza said he went call you last night but you never call back.”

  “I’m sorry, I have some family in town and they were—”

  Roger slammed the palm of his fist on the wooden railing that surrounded the lanai. “I don’t give a shit what you got going on,” Roger shouted. “When we call, you fucking take the call.”

  The only thing louder than the beating of my heart was the silence. No one said a word or moved. Statues are what they became. We had just gone from associates to enemies in three point two seconds. I didn’t know how to respond. I just stood there, like an idiot, my mouth unhinged and my eyes searching for an answer.

  “I’m sorry. I… Uh, it won’t happen again.” I barely was able to get that out without my voice cracking. Fear had taken over my body and its orders were, “Hide, everyone; the boogieman is here.”

  It looked like Roger was a few degrees of anger away from punching my lights out. I had a flashback of Souza telling me how he was crazy—that he was rotten. I wish I had taken him more seriously. When I looked over at Souza, he was staring at his feet. All of the men had their heads down, except Akahi. He looked straight at me. Akahi reached up and motioned for Roger to take a seat.

  “Darby,” he said in his always low-key, very calming voice, “I know you got family visiting. Souza told me, but you gotta find one way to return the call sooner, okay?”

  “Yes, you’re right. You are my clients and it’s important that I always be available. You have my word. This will never happen again.”

  It shouldn’t have happened in the first place, idiot. This was not how I serviced my clients. Why did I think I would not have to do the same with the NBB as I did with the others? Is it because they came to me? They’re still clients. Again, this was a reminder of the type of people I did business with. Never take a client for granted. Lesson learned.

  It took me about fifteen minutes to locate the problem and fix it. I walked back out to the lanai.

  “Okay, problem solved. I had to make a few more adjustments. The entire system has been triple checked. Everything is working. Outside of this,
how did it work the first night?”

  “I went notice things were a lot smoother,” Akahi said.

  “And they’ll continue to get a lot smoother so long as you keep working the system.”

  “Right on. We get one cockfight this Friday we going try the system out on. Mahalo, Darby.”

  Hmm, this could be my chance to get Tav inside.

  Souza walked me out to my Jeep. “You weren’t kidding about Roger,” I told him.

  “I don’t ever kid about that guy. Now you know.”

  “Yeah. Hey, so, Akahi mentioned a cockfight. Mind if I show up? That way if anything goes wrong, I’m there and I can address it.”

  “That would help in showing your loyalty for the gang.”

  “Any chance I can bring someone? My buddy Tav has never been, and is dying to see one.”

  “Darby, he going be one customer or what?”

  I never thought of that. He would have to be treated like the rest. “Of course. He’s got money and he wants to place bets. He’ll be your customer.”

  Chapter 37

  It was Friday, the day before everyone was to head back home. The wealthy Webers had arranged for an early goodbye dinner at the villa.

  Over the last seven days, the group had grown pretty close. I had even gotten to spend quality time chatting with my sister, mostly about my nephew, Jake. He was in the fourth grade and loved playing soccer. He was also a “science nerd” according to Devon. It was his favorite subject in school. There were a couple of times we talked late into the night out on the lanai, just the two of us. Our conversations were a sad reminder for me of how distant we had become.

  “Jake asks about you, you know.”

  “Really? He knows I exist?”

  “Sure and it’s not because you send him gifts. We have a picture of you on the fireplace mantel. When I ask him who it is, he always says, ‘That’s Uncle Darby.’”

  “Wow, that’s neat.”

  “You know, you really should think about coming out for a visit. It’ll be good.”

  What she said made a lot of sense. Over the week, Izzy and Devon had gotten along really well, as if they’d been friends for years.

  “I talked to Izzy about you two visiting next summer, when the weather’s at its best in the city. We have a boat and we can sail Lake Michigan.”

  Sailing on the lake sounded like a lot of fun. I began to daydream about what that would be like, but I didn’t get too far. Tav interrupted my thoughts.

  “Hey, we should get going.”

  I looked around and everyone seemed to be gabbing or lounging around in the villa or on the beach. They were content. But Tav and I had one thing on our mind: cockfight.

  It was already six and he was anxious to get going. Our excuse was that I was going to take Tav hunting on the beach for large sand crabs. All we needed were buckets and flashlights. Again, we had thought up an activity that wouldn’t appear to be more engaging than lounging at the villa. Perfect.

  • • •

  About forty-five minutes later we were making our way through the numerous checkpoints the NBB had set up along the dirt road, to make sure only those invited get in. With the new ID card system in place, they would be able to eliminate a few of these stops.

  We finally arrived at the site, which really was an old warehouse. The surrounding vegetation had mostly grown over it, giving it the camouflage it needed. It was the perfect setting for an illegal cockfight.

  “Wow, this place is like straight out of a movie. The checkpoints, the scary looking building… I’m psyched.”

  I was surprised to hear Tav say that. Up until now, he didn’t want anything to do with my consultancy and he took every opportunity to talk me out of it, especially when he would get caught up in it. But this time, he was not only volunteering; he was, evidently “psyched.”

  Tav pointed to a line of people. “What’s going on here?”

  “You, my friend will not only get to see my handiwork firsthand, but you’ll experience it.”

  “Huh?”

  “It’s a new system that I put into place to automate all the betting.”

  Just then Souza appeared at the door.

  “Eh, Darby. You made it.”

  “How did you know I was here?”

  “Checkpoint radioed back.”

  “Speaking of checkpoints, from now on, you’ll only need to keep one of them. The system can take care of the rest. Souza, I’d like you to meet a friend of mine, Tavish Woo-Kaminsky.”

  Tav stuck his hand out. “Hi.”

  “Woo-Kaminsky? That’s one crazy name.”

  “I got crazy parents.”

  “Literally,” I added.

  “All right Tavish, just turn over your license to this guy and one minimum bet of one hundred dollars. He’ll give you an ID card that you can use every time you visit us.”

  “A hundred dollars?”

  Souza chuckled. “I know it’s low but this isn’t Vegas, so we gotta cater to the crowd.”

  I gave Tav my I-didn’t-know look as he opened up his wallet and peeled out five twenties. He looked back at me as he handed over the cash. “What about you, Darb. No ID?”

  “Nah, I get a pass.” I slapped an arm around Tav. “Come on, let’s head inside. You’re going to dig this.”

  As soon as we passed through two huge soundproof doors, the roar of the crowd hit us like a brick wall. The fights had already started. In the center ring, a flurry of red, blue, black and yellow feathers were flapping in midair as the roosters clawed at each other with bladed feet.

  Men of all ages stood, cheering from the stadium seating of dilapidated wooden benches that surrounded the ring. Their fists flailed in the air, except this time they didn’t clench wads of cash. It was such a rush. I looked over at Tav; he was frozen by the action. His eyes were wide and locked on the center stage.

  “Let’s move closer to the ring,” I shouted near his ear.

  We twisted our bodies forward through the crowd. I was trying to get Tav as close to the action as possible. We got to within feet of the battling cocks. The wind from their beating wings passed across our faces and the squawking was ear piercing at this distance.

  The two roosters fell back to the ground, both of them prancing around the circle like two proud fighters, each thinking they had won the last round. They were eyeing each other up, waiting for the right moment to strike again.

  These birds were big. One was completely black with red highlights on its head, tails and the tips of its wings. The only other color was yellow, and that was reserved for its feet. The other contender was a mixture of red and blue feathers with yellow streaks in its tail and on its feet.

  Within seconds the two feathered opponents were back at it again. Flapping, squawking and slicing at each other as they rose off the ground as high as four feet. Suddenly a screech filled the room, signaling a change in dynamics. A spray of red exploded into the air showering the crowd, Tav and I included. As quickly as the flapping warriors had risen off the ground, the blue and red rooster fell back down, lifeless, its neck nearly severed by the long blade attached to the foot of the other bird. It lay still as the heart continued to pump and blood pooled onto the dry dirt—the first casualty of the night.

  Tav looked at me and yelled, “Holy shit!”

  Tav bet on the next two fights and won them both. I had never seen him so energized. He was cheering with the crowd, chanting the names of the birds. I went and got us a couple of beers. When I gave him his beer, he said, “Thanks, eh, brah.”

  Shit! He was mimicking the local crowd. A nasty habit he had was speaking and acting like others. It wasn’t too long ago he had gone to a taping of Def Comedy Jam. The next day he had the swagger of a black man and spoke in Ebonics, only he wasn’t very good at it. I just hoped his attempt at speaking pidgin English wasn’t taken offensively.

  For the next hour or so, Tav’s earnings yo-yoed. I had long lost track of whether he was ahead or not. The ID card
would tell all in the end. I looked at my phone. It was nearly 9 p.m.—time to go. I motioned to Tav that we needed to wrap it up. He didn’t want to go, but I forced him. This cockfight was like crack to him. It was very strange.

  Before leaving, I wanted to check in with Akahi and make sure he was happy. The fights tonight went off without a hitch, which was good. Tav and I headed toward the single door near the back of the warehouse. I waved at the two men who stood outside as they opened it for us. I motioned for Tav to wait outside.

  Inside the room, the mood was positive. Akahi was in his recliner, beer in hand and a big smile on his face. He was a happy Buddha.

  “Hey, Akahi.”

  “Eh, Darby. Howzit, brah? You friend have a good time tonight, huh?” he said motioning with his head.

  I turned around and Tav was standing by the door talking to one of the NBB members. Dammit. I told him to wait outside.

  “Uh, yeah. He had a great time. Thanks for letting me bring him. It’s his first fight.”

  “Happy to pop his cherry.”

  “Seems like everything went well here. I didn’t see any problems but I wanted to check with you and make sure you were cool and didn’t have any questions.”

  Just then Roger Kwan appeared.

  “Uh, hi Roger. I was checking with Akahi to make sure he didn’t have questions or concerns on how the system ran tonight. Did you experience or see any problems?”

  He didn’t say anything to me and spoke directly to Akahi. “I gotta take off, check on some things. I going be back later.”

  Akahi nodded.

  “Well if there’s nothing else, I’ll be leaving, too. Goodnight, Akahi.” He gave me the same nod. I turned around but didn’t see Tav anywhere. I looked all around the room but he was nowhere to be found. Thinking he probably went back to the ring, I headed toward the door.

  That’s when Roger intercepted me. “Your friend had to use the bathroom, I told him it’s easier for go out back, that’s what we do,” he said pointing to a door about eight feet behind where Akahi was sitting.