She listened, growing more disgusted by the minute. Such a waste. People dead because of greed. That was what this amounted to.
With Howard enthralled in his story and Mike growing increasingly irritated, she saw her opening. Whenever Howard tormented Mike by waving his gun or smiling in victory, she glanced around the ledge for a rock. She needed one small enough for her to pick up but hard enough to do some damage. Howard planned to kill three people.
Three more people. She knew it even if Mike hadn’t figured it out yet.
“Chester told me he had a big story. I gave him more credit than he deserved and assumed I was the headline. When you came on the boat with him, I thought I had my confirmation. The original plan was to have Chester take the fall for your death. Unfortunately, you refused to die.”
“I’m funny like that.”
“Then I realized, a bit too late, Chester was there to talk about Mike. That changed things. Made me think more in terms of a new business venture myself.”
“And Mike helped you by putting Dietz on Kane’s investigation. With Kane discredited, you had an open shot.”
“No!” Mike’s head shot up. “I did it to keep Kane occupied.”
“Then I guess I should thank you.” Kane walked out of the same outcropping of rock where Mike had appeared.
Relief swept through her, turning tension into hope. Seeing him, being close to him again, helped her focus her thoughts. Tough and tall, Kane walked into the middle of the catastrophe.
She wanted to cry and throw her body in his arms. Do all those girlie things she never imagined would appeal to her.
Kane’s gaze traveled over her face. He must have been satisfied with what he saw, because he nodded. Then he looked down at Derek’s body on the ground. If he felt anything, he hid it well. As usual. Other than the tightening of his fists, she didn’t see any sign that the scene tested Kane’s control.
“More company. Excellent.” Howard motioned to Kane to step close to Mike.
Kane ignored him.
“Move!”
“No.”
“Hands up and turn around.” This time Howard’s voice shook. Something about Kane threw Howard off balance.
She worried an out-of-control Howard would result in a bullet in the middle of Kane’s chest. She could not tolerate that result. If she had to throw her body in front of his, she would.
“The game is over, Howard, or whatever you’re calling yourself these days,” Kane said in a deadly calm voice.
“I don’t think so. See, my idea was to have Mike kill your girlfriend. You know, as a bit more insurance for his silence. Derek was coming with me to ensure your cooperation.”
Kane actually looked bored. “And now?”
“You’ve made Mike irrelevant.” Howard pulled the trigger.
The roar of the gun echoed in the small area and through the canyon. Kane used the chaos to lunge at Howard, but it was too late. A red splotch appeared on Mike’s white shirt. His mouth dropped open as the stain increased in size. After a second or two, Mike dropped to his knees. Then fell facedown onto the hard rock floor.
“Bastard!” Kane slid to a stop.
Howard turned his weapon on Annie. “One more step and she dies.”
“So much death and pain. Annie kept her fingers pressed to her mouth to keep from throwing up.
“You didn’t have to kill him,” Kane said through clenched teeth.
“I’m afraid I did. You should thank me. Mike was hardly a decent friend to you.”
“I am going to kill you.” Kane delivered his vow in a low and steady voice.
“Only if you want to watch your precious Annie die.” Howard smiled when the color left Kane’s face. “Now. You have a great deal to lose here. Mike told me Derek was your only concern, but I’m thinking you’d be upset if I dropped Ms. Parks into the canyon, correct?”
No. She would not be the reason Howard got away. Not this time. “Kane, kill him. Do whatever you have to do to kill him.”
Howard frowned. “Really, my dear. You have better breeding than this.”
“Go to hell.”
“A policeman.” Howard shook his head in disappointment. “You should have done so much better.”
As far as she was concerned, no man ranked above Kane. If he would have her, she’d be blessed.
“There’s nowhere for you to go, Howard.” Kane balanced his hands on his hips. “You actually think you’re going to kill the police commissioner, the police chief and a visitor without someone noticing?”
For the first time since Howard showed up in Kane’s kitchen, Annie felt a surge of confidence. Kane wouldn’t come alone. Josh roamed around these mountains somewhere. Maybe some of the other officers, too. Probably Ted.
And Kane had a gun behind his back. She’d bet everything she had, which wasn’t much, but still. Howard was too busy killing and threatening to pat Kane down.
Kane sent Howard a look that should have scalded him. “You know the one thing you don’t understand?”
“Enlighten me,” Howard said in a voice dripping with sarcasm.
Kane gave a slight nod. “I’m not here alone.”
With that, a rain of stones fell behind and around Howard. He jumped and yelped.
Annie didn’t get to see anything else, because Kane leapt on her, covering her and Derek with his body. Her side hit the ground hard, but Kane protected her head with his hands. When she looked up again, Josh had Howard sitting on the ground with his hands folded behind his neck. Blood trickled out of the corner of his mouth. The pants, blazer and shirt now had dirt stains all over them. The sleeve of the blazer was ripped, exposing the shirt underneath.
Annie figured Josh had tackled Howard from above. Josh must have kicked Howard’s gun, too, because the weapon lay just outside of her reach. No one scrambled to pick it up.
Kane checked Derek’s pulse and leaned down to whisper something. Annie figured Kane wanted to reassure himself, and maybe Derek, that everything was going to be okay. When Kane jumped to his feet and headed for Howard, she wondered if that was true.
She could see the hate in Kane’s eyes. In that moment, she wasn’t the only one who wanted revenge.
Her eyes went back to the gun.
This was her fight. Her presence had led to Chester Manning’s death. Everything could be traced back to Howard. The method and timing had changed, but the goal remained the same. Howard had to die.
She reached out and snagged the butt of the gun with her fingertips. With as little motion and noise as possible, she slid the gun to her and hid it under her legs. If she stayed seated, no one would know.
Just as Kane moved in on Howard, the older man raised his head. “You forget one thing, Travers.”
“What’s that?”
“I’m not here alone either.”
Chapter 28
Annie. Kane whipped around ready to protect her.
Too late.
Again.
Roy stood behind her with a gun pointed at her temple. Shocked and wide-eyed, she sat there with her hands folded on her lap.
Kane couldn’t look at her. Not now. Seeing her fear would debilitate him. He had enough trouble taking in the scene. Everything jumbled together in his mind, facts and memories, until none of it made sense.
His sergeant. A policeman. An inside man. The kid who almost wet himself when Annie smiled at him.
Roy kept his gun on Annie.
Josh aimed at Howard.
“It would appear we have a standoff,” Josh said. The pretense that he would sacrifice Annie was just that, a pretense.
She didn’t know that. Her pale skin blanched, and her gaze darted around as if searching for an escape.
Kane wanted to reassure her, but now wasn’t the time. Howard needed to think Josh was in complete control. That he didn’t have a vested interest in Annie or in keeping her alive.
“Lower your gun, Josh.” Roy called out the order in a sure voice.
“Fu
ck. You.” The only sign of Josh’s anger was the small tremor in his voice.
Kane suspected anyone who didn’t know Josh would never even notice. But, that was part of the problem. Roy did know them. Kane had thought they knew Roy. Wrong.
“Are you working for Howard or were you working for Mike?” Kane asked his former sergeant.
Howard lowered his hands. “Roy is a young man who can be bought by the highest bidder. He started out with Mike, feeding him inside information so that Mike could evade your drug sweeps. When I saw how valuable Roy could be, I convinced him to throw in with me.”
“Why, Roy? Why do this?” Annie’s question came out as a plea.
“Ever try to make it here financially? It’s impossible. I wasn’t about to sit around and wait for some kernel to be thrown my way in the department. Not when I have a golden ticket straight to the top.”
Roy’s usual aw-shucks way of talking had disappeared. A new maturity and sense of purpose stood behind his words. The boy had become a man. A very evil man.
“Gentlemen, it looks as if we need to strike a deal of sorts,” Howard said.
Kane had one more secret. Derek. Howard thought Derek lay there unconscious. Wrong. The kid was primed and ready to go. When he saw Derek’s hand move, Kane realized Derek was waiting to be a hero. And he would be, but not in the way he thought.
“I suggest that the DEA agent retire his weapon. We wouldn’t want Ms. Parks to be the victim of an accident.” Howard’s charming tone didn’t cover the threat behind his words.
When Derek’s fingers moved, so did Kane. He clapped his hands together. At the sound Derek reached out and grabbed Roy’s shoe and pulled until the younger man fell. Kane whipped out his weapon as Derek rolled to the side and pushed Annie behind him.
Josh made sure Howard never moved, but Roy didn’t go down in silence. He came up off his stomach with his gun loaded and aimed. Kane dropped him with one bullet to the forehead.
“You killed him!” Howard shouted.
“Damn right.” Kane waited for the guilt to hit him. This time it didn’t come.
“Might want to keep that in mind.” Josh shoved Howard.
As Kane lowered his gun, he saw Annie stumble to her feet with a gun in her hand. “Annie, no!” He shouted, but it was too late. She had already aimed the weapon at Howard and looked ready to fire. With her hands tied, her fingers barely reached the trigger.
“Yes.” The barrel waved in the air as she closed in on Howard. “He’s got to die.”
“Don’t do this, honey.” Kane tried but his voice didn’t break through whatever spell held Annie in its grip.
“Annie, please.” Derek stood behind her with his hands out.
Kane knew Derek waited for a signal. If Kane gave a nod, Derek would grab her. This would end. But, this wasn’t Derek’s fight. Annie had to wrestle with her own demons and silence them once and for all.
Annie kept walking until Kane stepped in front of her. He stood two feet away, so that the gun pointed at his chest. “Don’t do this.”
Those beautiful green eyes clouded with hate. “I have to.”
“No, you don’t. You don’t want this.” The more she nodded, the more he shook his head in denial. “You don’t want what this will do to you.”
She finally looked straight at him. “You asked why I was here, and I gave you a bunch of reasons. They were all true, but there really was only one main reason I came here.”
Kane knew why. He could see it in her eyes. Feel it pulsing off her body. He understood the vise grip of vengeance. It grabbed you and did not let go. He fought off that grip for years after his wife died. He’d wanted someone to pay. When he finally figured out that the one person who could have stopped the accident was already dead, he let some of that anger go.
“Tell me why you’re in Kauai,” he said in a soft voice.
Tears formed in her eyes. “To kill him. He deserves to die.”
“Stop her for God’s sake! She’s mad!” Howard pleaded with Josh for assistance.
“Shut up or I’ll give her my gun.” Josh stepped behind Howard and stuck the barrel in the back of his head with enough force to push Howard’s head forward.
Kane blocked them all out. Blocked out the wind and rustling trees. In that moment, only Annie existed. He was the only thing standing between her and the loss of her humanity. If she insisted that Howard die, then he would do it for her. He could handle murder and what it did to the shooter’s mind and soul.
The guilt and remorse would kill her. He couldn’t tolerate that. The idea of her bright light burning out over someone like Howard…No, it wasn’t going to happen.
He couldn’t save Leilani or Kaia. He could save Annie from herself.
“Give me the gun, Annie.” He held out his hand. He could grab it from her at this distance, but she needed to be the one to make the decision.
“No, I have to do it.”
“You’re a cop. Stop her!” Howard kept up his demands and threats.
Kane focused only on her. “You can’t get it back, honey. You think this will solve something, but it won’t. Killing Howard won’t make your mother well or give you back your childhood.”
“Listen to him!” Howard shouted between whimpers.
Josh shoved Howard one more time. “I said to be quiet.”
Kane kept talking, trying to soothe and comfort her as well as convince her, “This isn’t who you are.”
“I promised.” Tears rolled down her cheeks now.
“Let the guilt go. You didn’t make your mother sick. You didn’t cause what happened to her. It’s time to forgive yourself.”
The gun shook, and her arms lowered a fraction. “She left me.”
“I know, honey.”
“I hated her and stayed away, and she found him.” Annie leaned around Kane and pointed the gun at Howard.
Kane adjusted his stance and tapped on the end until she lowered the gun to a point at his waist. Progress. They were making progress.
“Let the police have him.”
“He has to die.” She repeated the phrase a few times as if lost in a past he couldn’t enter.
His heart broke for her. This beautiful, smart, lovely woman. The woman who’d taught him to believe again. To feel again. If she did this, he’d lose her forever. She’d lose herself.
He held out his hand. “Then let me kill him for you.”
“What? You’re the damned chief. You can’t kill me.” Howard’s composure broke.
“Kane, you can’t.” This time, Derek made the plea.
“Josh?” Kane didn’t have to form the question. Josh would know what he was asking.
“I’ll support you,” Josh said.
In that moment, only Annie mattered. “If Howard has to die, then I’ll do it. I’ve killed before.”
She frowned. “You can’t.”
“If you need him to die, if that’s the only way you can leave this canyon, then I’ll do it for you.”
“You’d do that?”
“I will do whatever I have to, and take however long I need to do it, to make sure you walk out of here the same person you are right now.”
Her hands dropped in front of her until the gun pointed at the ground. “I’m so tired.”
Kane watched the tension leave her body. He sighed in relief as his hand covered hers. “I know, baby.”
When she fell into his arms, crying and rambling nonsense, an aching tenderness swept over him. This need to protect her, to love her, only grew stronger when she buried her fists in his shirt and cried.
“It’s okay.” He kissed her hair. “We’ll work this out.”
He said the words, wondering if they were true.
Chapter 29
The last twenty-four hours blurred into a haze of doctors, police, press and questions. Sitting on the hard hospital bench in the hallway outside of Dietz’s room, Annie buried her head in her hands and tried to find her equilibrium.
Nurses ran ar
ound the hallways carrying trays and medicines and clipboards. Phones rang. The intercom buzzed with chatter. The smell of stale antiseptic filled the air.
She stared at the newspaper on the floor beneath her feet. The headline and front page stories talked about corruption and deceit in paradise. She had to smile because she knew Chester Manning would have loved this part. He’d thrived on the spotlight and bringing attention to Hawaii. In his death, he’d managed to excel at both.
Too many men had died for this cause. Jed could be dead. A man she’d brought into the fight simply by hiring him to run an investigation. Howard wasn’t talking, so she didn’t know.
Jed’s wasn’t the only death that weighed on her mind. Roy. Young, misguided and greedy. She couldn’t help but wonder if he’d gotten messed up in the world that destroyed him because of all those reasons Kane had given her for the drug trade problem. Maybe Roy had felt lost and bored. Something had driven him to the wrong side of the law. No one would ever know what that something was now.
Everything else left her feeling blank. Sterling Howard, or whatever the hell his real name was, faced a life in jail. Only now the vastness of his financial and land scams were coming to light. He’d tried to pass off government land as his own and sell it off and brought Mike down with him.
Yeah, she wouldn’t miss Howard, but having him caught left a hole. One she never expected. For almost a year, unmasking and killing Howard had ruled her life. With Howard behind bars and likely to stay there for a long time, nothing had changed for her. Her mother still stared into space. The sun still rose each day. Life on Kauai pressed on. Relief never came.
Kane got this part right. Her mother didn’t miraculously get well when Howard admitted his con. Annie knew now that her guilt was her own. Being a grownup meant forgiving and moving on. She had to find a way to accept her mother for who she was. And what she’d become.
Wiping Howard off the planet had been the goal, but this ending worked better. Mission accomplished. Now she wanted a different mission. Really, she had since Kane took her in.
Somehow she’d managed to regain her dignity but lose her heart. Of all of life’s unfairness, this seemed the harshest. To fall in love with a guy whose view of moving on and regrouping did not include a permanent place for her.
Your Mouth Drives Me Crazy Page 22