Rescuing Hi`ilani (Special Forces: Operaton Alpha) (Delta Force Hawaii)

by Reina Torres

  Crossing the room, he watched the girl behind the desk push a button and the door behind him was locked with a deadbolt.

  Sato didn’t stop to sit at his desk. He went over to the bar and poured himself a glass of vodka.

  The bite of the drink as it went down his throat eased some of his anger.

  When he set the glass down with a bang he turned and stared at the two men seated on a sofa in the middle of the room.

  “You two want to explain why there’s police tape up at the park and half a dozen more police on the street?”

  The smaller of the two shifted on the chair and shot the other man a glare.

  “No?” He sighed. “I’m disappointed. Peck?”

  The Caucasian man looked a little odd in the room. Bigger than nearly everyone else, he naturally saw himself in a position of power. “I did what you asked. Billy said he knew where to get to the old man so I went along with his play.”

  Sato turned his head a fraction of an inch. “Billy?”

  The younger man scowled at Peck. “Mackie’s been staying somewhere else since your loan came due. So I did some digging. The showcase was featuring his people so he had to be there.” He turned his head to look straight at Peck. “And he was. You just couldn’t wait until after the show.”

  Peck shrugged and undid his suit coat and leaned back, laying an arm over the back of the couch. “After the show when everyone comes outside? We needed to get to him when he was by himself.”

  “I’m still waiting to hear how a man who owes me more money than either of you has ever seen ended up dead.”

  “He didn’t have the money, that’s why he was hiding.”

  “I’m familiar with the idea, Billy. I’ve been loaning money for my entire adult life, be useful or you’re done.”

  Billy rushed to tell the story, his eyes slightly widened. “There was a girl. She came out looking for Mackie.”

  “Girl,” Sato sighed, “are you going to get more specific or do I have to explain your place?”

  “She was one of the dancers, I think.”

  Sato knew the look he had on his face. One look at Billy said that the young muscle knew it too.

  “That still doesn’t explain why you idiots decided to kill my mark.”

  Peck decided to speak up. “Once she showed up, everything changed. Mackie was struggling with us and that drew her attention.” Tilting his head toward Billy, Peck glared at the other man. “Idiot shot at the girl.”

  “I wanted to scare her, I wasn’t going to hit her.”

  Sato felt a muscle in his jaw flex and the edges of his vision darkened. “You fired a gun as a scare tactic? Within blocks of a Police Station?”

  “I wanted to get rid of the girl and finish up with Mackie, but he must’ve thought I was going to kill the girl and he stepped in the way.”

  “And the girl… did she see you? Either of you?”

  “It was hard to see. We picked a dark place so we couldn’t be seen. It works both ways.”

  “Well, it doesn’t work for me.” Sato’s deceptively pleasant voice made both men sit up a little more. “Are you sure she didn’t see you both? She can’t identify you?”

  “I doubt it, boss.” Billy shook his head and leaned back against the cushions. “Like I said it was dark.”

  “Doubt and know are two different things.” Sato’s blood had gone cold, his temper white hot. “You disappoint me, Billy.”

  The room went silent.

  Even the girl behind the desk stopped staring at her phone to look up at him, waiting to see what he was going to do.

  It hurt to rein in his anger, but his questions hadn’t yet been answered.

  “Peck?”

  “Billy hit him, drilled him in the back, but it wasn’t fatal.”

  Sato’s eyes opened a touch wider. “And is that what you did? Made it fatal?”

  Peck shrugged and Sato could feel his blood pressure soar.

  “Injured like he was, he’d likely tell the police everything. Didn’t think you’d want to have to answer questions from the local 5-0.”

  Sato gave him a withering look. “Here in Hawaii, the local police are all 5-0.”

  Peck leaned back and crossed one leg over the other. “Killing him will cost you less in the long run.”

  “I don’t recall making you my business manager, Peck.” He stopped Billy from commenting with a look cast in his direction. “While Mr. Peck makes a somewhat irritating yet valid point, you don’t have anything that I need now, except your absence.”

  Billy looked back at him with an open question in his eyes.

  “That means, Billy. You’re going to leave.” He let out a sigh. “Leave this room, my employ, and the islands.”

  When his words sunk in Billy lurched to his feet, his arm lifting up.

  Three hammers clicked back and Billy realized what kind of position he put himself in.

  “Should I choose to believe that reaching for your gun is… merely a reflex, Billy. You’ll be able to walk out of here with your life.”

  Billy slowly lowered his hand.

  One of the guards walked over and took the gun out of his waistband, while another gave him a pat down.

  “You don’t get to take your gun with you. I can’t trust that you’ll dispose of it correctly.”

  Billy glared up at his boss. “Are we done?”

  Sato waited until the guard brought him Billy’s gun. He pulled out the magazine and looked at the load.

  With a look of disgust, Sato set the two pieces on the desk. “You didn’t reload your gun?”

  Billy opened his mouth to answer, but Sato waved him off.

  “Someone escort Billy to the door.”

  One of the guards reached out to take hold of Billy’s elbow.

  “And Billy?”

  They all stopped to look at Sato. No one ignored him.

  “If you’re stupid enough to get caught by the police, keep your mouth shut. If you talk, we’ve got ways of getting to you… and to people you say you love.”

  Billy’s face went ghost white and his jaw dropped, just a fraction. “I won’t say a word. I’m not stupid.”

  Sato shook his head. “I think you are, Billy, but I think you know what I’d be willing to do if you make this worse. So you take the money I paid you and I want you out of Hawaii by tomorrow morning.”

  Billy started to walk with the guard and stopped.

  “You’re really going to let me leave?”

  “The last thing I need is a trail of bodies that will lead them right to me. Go before I change my mind, Billy.”

  The door was almost closed when Sato spoke again.

  “Don’t disappoint me again, Billy.”

  Chapter 6

  They’d managed a few hours of sleep before a detective called them and asked them to come back to the main police office on Beretania Street. Climbing the steep and seemingly endless stairs to the front door had Jackson completely on edge the whole time. Sure, the building was impressive and the seat of the Honolulu Police Department, but the stairs made them really visible and that had the hairs on the back of his neck standing up.

  Nudging Hi`ilani up ahead of him, he concentrated on staying right on her heels without stepping on them. It wasn’t foolproof but he could try to cover her as much as possible just on principle.

  Things weren’t fixed between them, not by a long-shot, but he needed to do something to keep his nerves in check. On missions he was rock steady. They’d done enough training that it was all second nature.

  Protecting the woman he loved more than his own life? There was no preparing the kind of calm he needed. All he could do was vow to do whatever it took, including putting himself between her and any danger.

  Just like Mackie.

  His throat felt raw when he drew in a breath.

  The detective walked out to meet them at the top step and ushered them right in, allowing Jackson to keep his sidearm in the building. It caused a few curious look
s, but when the Chief of D’s stopped in to give it his blessing, Jackson finally relaxed, just the littlest bit.

  Detective Wong explained as he lead them to his office. “The Chief of Detectives is a military man himself. His father was part of the 442nd unit.” He paused for a moment as they preceded him into the office and spoke again when he closed the door behind them. “That doesn’t mean he’d let any military man carry a weapon into the department. He did his research. Called an old buddy and checked your record.” Detective Wong crossed to his desk and waited for them to sit before he pulled out his chair and sat down behind his desk. “To say he’s impressed is pretty impressive on its own. He doesn’t just throw that word around. The fact that he wouldn’t let me see your record proves that I’m out of my depth with you.”

  Turning to Hi`ilani, the detective’s demeanor changed.

  “I’m glad to see you’re holding up well, Miss Ahfong.”

  Jackson’s mood dampened a bit. She wasn’t okay and the detective knew it too.

  “I’m barely holding myself together, but thank you for trying to be kind.”

  Jackson reached his hand out and she took it with only the slightest hint of hesitation.

  “I wanted to let you know that we’re trying to locate the man you identified from his mug shot this morning.”

  “Trying?” She swallowed and darted a glance at Jackson. He tried to give her a smile but it came up wanting. “So you don’t know where he is?”

  Leaning forward, the detective braced his forearms on the edge of his desk, his tie dangling down against the same surface. “We went to his apartment. It looks like he made a quick exit, left most of his stuff behind.”

  Jackson shook his head. “Do you know where he’d go now? Family?”

  “We’ve checked with his family. His mother seems genuinely worried.” He sat back, smoothing his tie down. “We have feelers out. Sources in his… circle. We’ll find him.”

  “Detective,” Jackson hoped he was reading too much into the unspoken, “what are you not telling us? You could have told all of this to Hi`ilani over the phone.”

  The detective cleared his throat. “We’ve also heard that people have been asking around about you, Miss Ahfong. Now, we don’t have any indication that you’re in any real danger. Men like this, criminals like this, don’t like to draw too much attention to themselves. They operate best in the shadows.”

  “But they shot Mackie in public,” she shot back, her eyes glittering with tears, “in a park next to a busy theater.”

  “They kept to the shadows. Concealing their identities.” He sighed, shaking his head. “Looking at his sheet I doubt he intended to shoot Mackie. He’s a strong-arm for local loan sharks. Intimidation is his thing.”

  “So you think Mackie owed someone money?”

  Jackson turned to look at Hi`ilani, felt her tremor through their physical connection.

  “But he’s never had money problems.” Hi`ilani cringed. “Or maybe that’s just what he wanted me to think. He paid for most of that showcase to put us out there for the public to give us a venue.” Her head shot up and she turned her tear-filled gaze to Jackson. “This is all because of me.”

  Jackson wanted to reassure her. “Hey, now… don’t go borrowing trouble-”

  “What else am I supposed to think? If he had money troubles it was because he was trying to help me with my career.”

  “He had several performers that he was promoting and representing,” Jackson reminded her.

  “And if I hadn’t interrupted them, maybe they would have just left him alone. Mackie was protecting me when they shot him.”

  Jackson squeezed her hand, but he had more questions for the detective. “So if they’re looking for Hi`ilani, what do we need to know to protect her?”

  The detective held up his hands, whether in a bid for patience or quiet, Jackson didn’t know, and really he didn’t care.

  “You have to tell me what you’re really thinking here.”

  Nodding slowly, Detective Wong cleared his throat. “Be careful. Lock your doors. Don’t go anywhere alone. Be mindful of the people around you.”

  Jackson found himself wanting to call the man on his bullshit. He sounded like a ‘stranger danger’ PSA on some children’s TV station. “I’ll stay with her.”

  He felt Hi`ilani tense beside him, tug on her hand as she shook her head. “No, no. I can’t ask you to do that. You’re supposed to be helping your friends on their vacation. I know how to watch out for myself. I’ve got one of those cat things on my keychain. The thing that you can use to poke an attacker. And I’m not planning to go out other than work. So,” she put a smile on her face and turned it on Jackson for a moment before she looked away, “you can go show your new friends around and I’ll be fine.”

  “If I go to see them,” he told her, rubbing his thumb over the back of her hand, “you can come with me, but I’m going to be watching over you.”

  The detective was looking between them. “If you’d rather not be alone and aren’t… comfortable with Mr. Guard staying with you, I think you said that you have family on-island. They’d be happy to have you home, I’m sure.”

  She shot up to her feet. “If you say that there are people looking for me, I’m not going to live with my family and put them in danger.”

  Jackson got to his feet and stood beside her. He wanted to put his arm around her shoulders, but held back. “Then I’ll stay with you. I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.”

  He saw the sadness in her eyes but she nodded. “Okay. Fine. You can stay with me.”

  She hoped it wasn’t just her imagination, the look on his face as he smiled at her.

  Love?

  Is that what this was?

  Had he truly loved her then?

  Was this what it was now?

  She wanted it to be.

  Desperately.

  Mackie had been taken from her.

  She didn’t want to lose someone else she… cared about.

  “Can I go home now?”

  The detective gestured at the room behind them. “Not unless you want to look through the books again? Take another look at the computer?”

  Hi`ilani shook her head. “Not really. The other guy was haole. Mainland. He had an edge, but he’s not in the pictures. Or maybe it was the shadows on his face, but I can tell you he’s not in any of the pictures I saw.”

  “Okay,” the detective shrugged, “then just take care of yourself and we’ll let you know if there are any developments.”

  “Thank you,” she told him before she headed for the door. “I don’t like being kept in the dark.”

  It wasn’t until they were nearly to the front door that Jackson started to talk.

  “Is that what you think?”

  She kept her head down, her gaze on what was ahead of them.

  “Yes, I didn’t tell you why I broke it off with you, but I wasn’t trying to keep you in the dark. It was just-”

  “Better that way?” She paused at the front glass door, her hand on the bar. “Maybe I’ll believe it someday. Are you sure you still want to stay with me?”

  When he didn’t answer immediately, she turned her head to look at him, and what she saw in his eyes left her breathless.

  His hand covered hers where it lay on the bar and she suddenly felt his heat prickle along her skin, traveling up her arm and her lips parted on a gasp as she licked her bottom lip.

  “Jack,” she bit into the corner of her lip, feeling her heart stutter in hesitation, “if you don’t, I’ll understand and-”

  Looking back on it later she probably would have said she saw it coming, but when Jackson lifted her hand from the release bar on the door, she was gaping up at him in utter confusion.

  When he turned her away from the door and pressed her back up against the wall, she felt the air in her lungs leave in a rush.

  But when his lips covered hers in a kiss, she’d caught up to his intentions and instead of just taking h
is kiss, she met him halfway and her hands settled on his chest. She didn’t just leave them there either.

  Curling her fingers into the cotton of his forest green Henley, she held him tight against her.

  When he mumbled against her lips she opened her eyes for a moment and saw him reach out an arm to brace himself against the wall. Belatedly, her mind caught his words from a moment before. Something about not wanting to crush her.

  But heaven help her she wanted to be.

  He stopped just short of slipping his tongue between her lips, and that brought her mind rushing up to the present.

  “Wait. Wait.” She panted out the words, trying to even out her heart.

  To his credit, Jackson listened to her, pulling back enough to give her a chance to breathe, but not moving far enough away that she couldn’t feel the heat of him against her skin.

  Or maybe it was a blush that warmed her cheeks.

  She certainly was allowed a little blush, especially when she heard some soft laughter coming from the security office just on the other side of the main doors.

  “That,” she told him, with her heart in her throat, “was unexpected.”

  He smiled at her, a lazy stretch of his lips. “It was inevitable.”

  She looked away for a moment and then turned back to look at him. “So sure of yourself?”

  His eyes spoke volumes, but hearing the words cut deep into her defenses.

  “What just happened between us has nothing to do with me being sure of myself.” He stood up, pushing off the wall. “There’s always been this connection between us. I was a fool to walk away from you. From us.”

  She nodded. “No argument there.”

  He laughed. “I’m glad you’re not pulling your punches.”

  She knew there was a wicked look in her eyes, and she liked the little bit of worry in his gaze. “Then you’re going to be ecstatic if you put me through this again.” She tried to put as much bravado in her tone as she could, but she knew it fell short of her goals.

  Acting was one thing.

  But Jackson owned too much of her heart to bluff that well to his face.

  When he reached out a hand and cupped the side of her face, she tried to keep her heart in check.