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

by Ty Hutchinson

  “Oh, okay. Thanks.”

  I exited the building. There was maybe a clearing of fifteen feet by fifteen feet and then beyond that it was rainforest. The area was lit by a single light bulb, right above the entrance to the door—not much help. Why would Tav come out here to piss rather than go to the bathroom? Doesn’t make sense. I called out for him.

  “Brah, I stay over here.”

  What the…? I heard a twig snap and Tav appeared from the darkness.

  I was relieved, but still ready to go. “You done? I’d like to get out of here.”

  “Relax, Tampax,” he said.

  Oh, God. Tav was still mimicking the locals, except his pidgin English sucked. “Tav, tell me you didn’t act this way when talking to that psycho, Roger.”

  “Brah, no worry, eh? Roger and me, we stay best buds.”

  I turned around and went to open the door but the knob wouldn’t turn. I tried jiggling it and twisting it both ways but it wouldn’t budge. The door was locked.

  “What brah, you went lock us out?”

  “I swear when I closed the door it was open. I even turned the knob and it opened. And stop talking that way; you’re not a local.”

  Tav stood next to me. “Eh, no get mad, get glad. Maybe someone went lock the door after you came out.”

  “I’m going to fucking hit you if you don’t stop talking that way.”

  I started walking through the steps in my head. Roger walked me over to the door. I opened it. I remember checking it when I closed it. He had already started to walk away. Did he come back and lock it? Why would he do that? Did Tav piss him off with his stupid talk?

  Just then, I heard another twig snap but I knew it wasn’t Tav this time. I turned around and stared out into the dark vegetation. We both heard something move through the bushes. I heard more movement from another location. There was more than one and they were somewhere amongst the trees just beyond our eyesight.

  “I don’t like the sound of that.” Tav said.

  “Yeah, well then you’re not going to like this.” I pulled on Tav’s arm and pointed into the brush.

  Staring at us was a pair of red eyes.

  Chapter 38

  The eyes were roughly three feet from the ground. Was that animal height or some sort of Hawaiian chupacabra height? Another pair appeared near it, and they were also around the same level.

  “Shit, Darb. What is it?”

  Whatever it is, it scared the old Tav back. “I dunno, but it doesn’t seem friendly.”

  I started knocking loudly on the door, which soon turned to both of us pounding, but no one was interested in answering. I looked back toward the brush, where there were now at least five pairs of eyes moving around in the bush. We continued to pound until we heard a squeal cut through the night.

  I turned just in time to see a black beast appear at the edge of the woods. Its red eyes focused on us. Large white fangs, at least four inches protruded from the animal’s mouth. I grabbed Tav’s arm. “Run!”

  Tav didn’t hesitate. He was fast on my heels as we ran along the side of the warehouse. My first thought was to round the corner and follow the building to the front but as soon as we hit the corner we realized the vegetation was much too thick to get through.

  “This way,” I shouted as I cut left through an opening between two trees. It appeared to be a hint of a trail. By now it was completely dark. Branches smacked my face as I ran with both arms out in front of me. Twice I ran into a tree. My feet stumbled over roots. I prayed that I wouldn’t tumble to the ground. I could hear Tav behind me. I could also hear the squealing of multiple pursuers. At one point it seemed like one of them was running along side us, looking to flank our path.

  My mouth hung open as I sucked in air. I could feel the burn in my legs. I had to keep moving. My ears told me the beasts were close—right behind Tav. I ran with my hands out in front, feeling my way through the forest, when up ahead I saw a tiny clearing. It was enough to see the outline of a tree with low branches.

  “Tav, there’s a tree up ahead. Climb up.”

  I broke to the right of the tree, Tav to the left, and we jumped up onto the lower branches. I scrambled to make my way higher through the multitude of tiny twigs that grew out of the large one. I could feel the skin on my left palm tear as I gripped a branch but slipped. A bit higher, I told myself.

  I was about ten feet off the ground when I felt I could stop climbing. Tav was a few feet higher than me. Below I could hear them circling the base of the tree. It was an orgy of loud snorting and heavy breathing. Through the tree I could feel their powerful hoofs scratching the trunk. I hoped to hell the tree could withstand whatever they were doing to it.

  “What are they?” Tav asked.

  “Wild boars.”

  Tav continued to reposition himself above me. “What do we do?”

  “Hope they don’t huff and puff and blow this tree down.”

  “I’m serious, man.”

  “Me too. I have no idea but I don’t want to have to outrun these guys again.”

  “They look pissed.”

  I looked up at Tav. “They’re hungry.”

  I felt my pants pocket start to vibrate. I pulled out my cell phone, surprised I had service in the middle of nowhere.”

  “It’s Izzy.”

  “Great. Tell her to send help.”

  “I can’t. I told her we were going crabbing on the beach, not to an illegal cockfight in the hills.”

  I pushed the accept button. “Hey, sweetie.”

  “Hi. I was calling to see when you guys were coming back. Little late to be crabbing.”

  “Yeah, we finished that a few hours ago but we decided to hike out to Ka’ena Point since we were near there.”

  “At night?”

  “We have flashlights and it’s mostly beach with patches of vegetation. It’s out in the open.”

  “Oh? Okay.”

  “We’re hiking back to the car now. Didn’t realize the time. Sorry.”

  “What’s that noise, that grunting sound?”

  “Oh, that’s Tav. He’s trying to talk to the wild pigs. We heard some earlier.”

  “He sounds like one. Be careful. I heard they’re vicious.”

  I hung up the phone and looked up at Tav. “Seems like she bought it.”

  “Yeah, until she sees us. I don’t know about you, but I’ve got cuts all over myself and my shirt is torn.”

  “Same here.”

  “Well, at least you can call for help,” Tav said.

  “I can’t call anybody connected to the authorities. I can’t risk them finding the cockfight, and I can’t explain us being here.”

  “Do you even know where we are?”

  “Well, according to Google maps if we head downhill, we should run into what looks like farmland. Cross that and we will run straight into the highway. It’s a hike, but it’s better than back tracking.”

  Tav pointed below me. “What about those guys?”

  The boars were still sniffing around below but they seem to be calming down. “Hopefully they’ll get tired and move on.”

  “And if they don’t?”

  “Ever slept in a tree house minus the house?”

  Chapter 39

  Everyone had morning flights, but the Webers’ was the earliest—7 a.m. Izzy had decided to stay with her family at the villa and have them drop her off in the early morning on their way to the airport. Devon and Linda, who also had become fast buds, slept at the cottage. They were in bed by the time Tav and I found our way back home at around one in the morning. Izzy woke me briefly when she crawled into bed at around five.

  No sooner had I laid my head back against the pillow, it felt like she was waking me up again so I could spend breakfast with Devon, Tav and Linda before they headed to the airport. Their flights were at two in the afternoon. Turns out the three of them were on the same flight to San Francisco, with my sister continuing on to Chicago.

  Fortunately, Tav and I were
able to avoid any conversation about what we did last night. We told them the cuts and scratches came from diving for the crabs in an area that had coarse sand. When everyone was finally out of the house, Izzy and I plopped down on the couch on the back lanai and zoned. That is, until she asked, “So what’s up with the cockfight?”

  My head jerked back and my eyes flew open signaling an obvious tell. I tried to play it down. “Huh? What are you talking about?”

  “You mentioned it when I crawled into bed this morning.”

  I turned to Izzy, sporting my confused look. “I did?”

  “You are so bullshitting me right now. What did you and Tav really do last night because you certainly weren’t hunting for crabs?”

  I wondered for a moment if I should have kept playing dumb, but I was too tired to spin a story for her. I gave in. “Tav wanted to go see a live cockfight, and I had heard about one from Braddah Moku. But when it was over, we accidentally locked ourselves outside the building and then got chased by a pack of wild boars so we had to climb a tree to get away from them.”

  Izzy started to laugh. “So when I called you, you were up in the tree and those boars I heard snorting were real and not Tav?”

  “Yup.”

  “That is the stupidest, funniest story I have ever heard. You know, I wouldn’t have cared about you guys going to a cockfight.”

  “It wasn’t you I was worried about; it was that frightening man you call your father who worried me.”

  Izzy had a giggle fit. “I can’t believe you think that way about him. He's so not like that.”

  “To you maybe but to me—I get the feeling he doesn’t trust me yet.”

  “Maybe… Okay, let’s make a promise to always feel like we can tell each other something, okay?” Izzy said, offering her pinky finger.

  I hooked mine around hers and we shook on it. It took a few more minutes for Izzy to clear herself of the giggles. “How was the fight, anyway?”

  I took a deep breath as I recollected my thoughts. “Well, it was interesting, like nothing I’ve experienced before. The energy was electrifying. It got your blood pumping—”

  Izzy reeled back. “Over spilled blood?”

  “Yeah, I guess. But Tav—man, that guy got into it.”

  Izzy scrunched her eyebrows. “Really? I never would have thought cockfighting and Tav would go together.”

  “Same here. He even made bets. I’m not sure if he came out ahead or not. We never got a chance to check, you know, with being chased by the boars and whatnot.”

  That last bit sent Izzy back into a snort fest.

  Chapter 40

  I told Tav to leave his ID card with me so I could check and see if he walked away with any winnings. I wondered what would have happened had the NBB not had Teleco’s ID card system in place. Snooze, you lose? Whatever the case, the system was working in Tav’s favor.

  I put a call in to Souza and he said it wasn’t a problem to swipe the card to see if Tav had a credit, but now wasn’t a good time. He asked that I call back in a few days. Was he blowing me off? I didn’t bother trying to bring up the boar incident. Best to forget about it, yet learn from it.

  When Tav and I had finally found our way back to my Jeep, we grabbed his driver’s license and left without going in to find out how we got locked outside. Part of me thinks Roger Kwan locked the door. If he got pissed because I didn’t return a call promptly, I’d hate to see how he’d get with me accusing him of something. If he has a surprised look on his face the next time I see him, then I’ll know.

  Izzy and I spent the rest of Saturday sleeping and zoning on the lanai. It seemed to be the right medicine for recuperating. I figured I could motivate later in the evening and head over to Kolohe’s to see if Braddah Moku had learned anything more about my Kalani hunch. Things had appeared to be normal around the cottage the last week, but there were also a bunch of people around.

  As I was getting ready to head out, I bumped into Momi in the driveway. She had just gotten off work at Luau’s. I gave her a friendly hug. “Hey, Momi. What’s up?”

  “Oh, same ol’, same ol’. You guys still playing Holiday Inn?”

  “Nah, everyone took off today. It’s nice to have the house back just to ourselves.”

  “I bet.”

  “Well, I’ve got some errands to run. Izzy’s out back.”

  “Thanks. See you later,” she said.

  When I pulled into Kolohe’s, I saw that Braddah Moku wasn’t yet on duty. I didn’t really feel like waiting, so I picked up some food to go and headed back to the house. Izzy was inside biting her nails while watching TV.

  “Where’s Momi?” I asked.

  “Oh, she left already. She couldn’t stay long.” Izzy started to sniff. “What do you have in the bag?”

  “Steaks and baked potatoes.”

  “Mmmm, perfect. I’m actually quite hungry.”

  I laid out the food on the coffee table while Izzy went to fetch us silverware and beers. “Did Momi have anything new to report?”

  Izzy placed forks and knives on the table and twisted open both bottles. “No, not really. She was busy all week.”

  “I was surprised she didn’t come around more often. She met everyone that first night.”

  Izzy sawed into her ribeye. “I know. I called her and told her she was more than welcome; she was part of the celebration.”

  I squeezed my baked potato open and started to stuff it with the works, licking my fingers between toppings. “Hmm, I wonder why she never came over.”

  “Yeah, I dunno.”

  “Strange. I was thinking earlier how she and Braddah Moku are the two coolest people I’ve met on the North Shore.”

  “What about Kalani?” Izzy asked before taking her sip of her beer. “I thought you guys were best buddies.”

  “Butt lovers. Get it straight.”

  A smirk came over her face. “That’s right. I keep getting it mixed up.”

  “I was hoping to catch Braddah Moku at Kolohe’s but he wasn’t there yet. I’m curious to see if he’s discovered anything about our hunch.”

  Izzy’s eyebrows furrowed as she stabbed a forkful of Caesar salad and shoved it into her mouth. She then forked and knifed a dripping bite of steak and added that as well. This girl had a healthy appetite. She also had the metabolism of fifteen men. Nothing stuck to her no matter what she ate. I liked that she ate as much as me and wasn’t a picky eater. We made good dining partners.

  Later that evening I tried Souza, but still no answer. I wondered if this was payback for me not taking their calls. Nah, he’s a gang member, not a twelve year-old, right?

  We were in bed pretty early, around ten. Izzy set the alarm for 5:30 a.m. We had both agreed that we needed an early morning surf session out front. A spiritual session is what we called it.

  I awoke to Izzy jerking my arm.

  “Darby,” she whispered, “someone’s outside.”

  My eyelids flew open and I sat up. The only windows in our room were a small set of jalousies, not more than a foot from the ceiling. They were meant for air circulation and not looking out, but I could easily see that something had set off the motion sensor lights. I eased myself out of bed quietly.

  “What are you going to do?” Izzy whispered.

  I pressed a finger against my lips and picked up the heavy-duty flashlight I kept on the floor by my side of the bed. To be honest, I didn’t know what I was going to do. Izzy slipped out of bed and followed me to the door. To make matters worse, we were both naked.

  I pressed my ear against the bedroom door and listened. I didn’t hear a thing. Grabbing hold of the doorknob, I slowly turned it until the door was open. I placed my eye right where the door and the frame met and slowly pulled the door back until I could see through the crack. Sure enough, the lights on this side of the house were also on. I could see the trees and the bushes, but my eyeline was limited so I cracked the door a bit more.

  That’s when I saw him: the hooded figure p
ressed up against the large picture window, looking inside. I couldn’t make out his face since it was hidden in the shadows of the hood. But my adrenaline dam burst and the hair on my body stood at attention as I let out a tiny gasp. I blinked my eyes quickly for a clearer look. There was movement and then nothing. I flicked on the powerful flashlight, threw open the door and flashed the light at the window, hoping to get a look at his face. “Don’t turn on the lights,” I told Izzy who was locked in step behind me with both hands clawed into my shoulder.

  “What is it?” she asked.

  “I saw someone standing just outside that window.”

  Chapter 41

  We didn’t get much sleep for the rest of the night. We both put on clothes and searched around the house for evidence of who it could have been. We didn’t find anything. There weren’t any footprints since most of what’s around the house is grass and sand. No fingerprints that I or Izzy could see were left on the outside of the glass. Whoever it was wanted back inside the house. I had already made up my mind that it was Kalani; the height and build of the shadow seemed to match his.

  After the creepiness wore off, Izzy and I felt violated. We wanted to catch whoever it was and give them a straight-up beating, even if that person had the backing of the Black & Blue.

  “What do you think we should do?” Izzy asked, once we got back into the house.

  “I’m not sure. Calling the police the first time didn’t really do anything for us.”

  “Yeah, but we should still call them just so there’s a record of it.”

  “I agree, but I don’t think they’ll do anything, which sucks.”

  “Should we set traps?”

  “That’s not a bad idea,” I said, scratching my chin. “What did you have in mind?”

  “Are there such things as nonlethal traps? What about animal traps?”

  “Most types of trapping are illegal. I’m assuming so are the contraptions. But we could install video surveillance that records twenty-four hours a day. Even cameras with night vision, just in case the lights don’t go on.”