by Elle James
Hawk looked around and nodded. “Clear.” He slipped the co-pilot’s headset over his ears and adjusted the microphone close to his mouth. “Just how many hours do you have flying?”
“A few.”
“How many is a few?” Hawk asked, not feeling any less nervous about flying with the boss’s daughter.
The engine roared to life, the noise almost drowning out her reply. “Hit the noise-cancelling button on your headset.” Kalea pointed to the button and went through her pre-flight checklist. Then she keyed her mic and announced that she was taxiing out to the runway.
A couple minutes later, they were racing down that runway, gaining speed until Kalea pulled back on the yoke and the airplane left the ground and Hawk’s stomach behind.
A chuckle sounded in his ear. “You can relax now. It’s less than an hour to Honolulu. But first, I wanted you to see something.” She turned the plane to the east, gaining altitude. “Below is the ranch, all 130,000 acres. We employ over 350 people. We have over 25,000 cattle and more than 800 miles of fence. The grassland is rich and year-round, unlike many places on the mainland.”
Hawk looked out the window as they circled the massive spread. “It’s an amazing operation. I can see why you love it.”
“That’s not why I brought you up here.” She smiled and turned the plane toward Mauna Kea, the tallest mountain on the island. “You’re familiar with Mauna Kea?”
He shrugged. “A little.”
“There are thirteen observatories on Mauna Kea. Each one is sponsored by as many as eleven countries.”
“I didn’t know that.”
She gave him a sideways glance. “I’ll take you up there.”
“Now?” Hawk asked.
Kalea laughed. “No. We’ll drive up there some day. There isn’t a safe place to land a plane up there. But that’s not where we’re going.”
“I thought we were going to Oahu.”
“We are, but on our way out, there’s something else I want you to see.” She flew the plane toward the northeastern coastline. The terrain became more tropical, the trees denser, the terrain rising higher as they approached the coast.
“Hold onto your hat,” Kalea said into the mic.
“What?” Hawk gripped the armrest. “Why?”
Before he could guess what she was going to do, she pushed the yoke forward, diving down into a steep valley with waterfalls plunging thousands of feet to the valley floor.
“Sweet Jesus!” Hawk called out, now clinging to the armrest for dear life. “Pull up! Pull up!”
She did, leveling out several hundred feet below the tops of the ridges surrounding the ruggedly steep slopes. “This is the Kohala coastline with its thousands of waterfalls and beauty you can only see from the air.” She shot a smile at him. “What’s wrong? I thought you were used to flying. Hell, helicopters do crazier things than this.”
“Yeah, but those pilots have hundreds of hours of flight experience under their belts.”
Her grin broadened. “Trust me, so do I. I’ve been flying since I was sixteen. I’ve logged over a thousand hours, and I’ve flown this path at least fifty times. I wouldn’t do anything that would put either one of us at risk.”
“I’m glad to know that…now.” He shook his head, his pulse rate slowly returning to normal. “Is this how you initiate all your paniolos?”
She flew to the end of the valley where it opened out to the ocean. “No. You’re the first paniolo I’ve brought up with me in the plane. The only other passengers I’ve taken up are my father and Maleko.”
“That’s it? In all those hours?” He stared across at her. “Unless they flew in the military, the only other pilots I’ve known with that many hours were flight instructors.”
She shrugged. “I can see a lot more of the ranch from up in the air. I go up at least once a week, sometimes more often, depending on what’s going on.”
As they cleared the cliffs, Kalea angled the plane to the northwest.
“The island you can see ahead is Maui. We won’t fly over it, but we will fly over Kaho’olawe, a much smaller, deserted island that has been turned into a reserve. It was once used by the US military for bombing practice. They turned it over to the Hawaiian government in the early 1990s. The only people allowed on the island are volunteers who are there to help restore the island.
As they neared Kaho’olawe, Kalea descended so that they could get a better view of the island that had been ravaged by bombs. As the plane grew closer to the ground, the engine coughed, sputtered and died.
Kalea frowned.
“Was that supposed to happen?” Hawk asked.
“No,” Kalea checked the gauges, turned on the fuel boost pump and cursed when nothing happened. “You know all those safety instructions I gave you before we took off?”
Hawk swallowed hard, his pulse picking up. “Yeah, why?”
“Looks like we might get to exercise some of them. Prepare for an emergency landing.” She glanced out the window toward the larger island to the east. “We don’t have enough altitude to coast into Maui. We’ll be landing here, on or near Kaho’olawe.”
Chapter 11
“This isn’t another chance to fool the new guy, is it?” Hawk said. “Because, if it is, you got me. Now, turn the engine back on.” He gave Kalea a weak smile, his hand curled tight around the armrest. “This isn’t a drill, is it?”
She shook her head, looking out the window. “There isn’t a landing strip on the island, so we’ll be making a water landing. We need a long enough cove where the water is pretty smooth. We don’t want to catch a wave. It could flip the plane.”
“Now, I remember why I like helicopters,” Hawk said, gripping the armrest.
Kalea snorted. “If a helicopter engine cuts out, it drops like a rock. Fixed wing aircraft can glide for miles. Now help me look for a cove. Preferably one with a beach we can get out on.” Her voice was strained, her concentration on the terrain and coastline below.
Hawk peered out of the plane at the ground below, searching for the tell-tale light color of sand along the coastline and a cove big enough to land the plane without crashing into cliffs.
“There,” he said, pointing toward a long crescent-shaped cove where the waves didn’t crest as they gently slid onto the sandy shore. “Is there enough room for you to put the plane down?”
She nodded. “I think so. We’re already going pretty slow. We just have to come at it from the correct angle and hope there isn’t a lot of crosswind pushing us into the shore too soon.”
Kalea swung out away from land and turned as the plane dropped lower, closer to the water. She adjusted the flaps, and then gripped the yoke, her feet pressing the pedals on the floor as she brought the aircraft down as slowly as she could. At the last minute, she pulled back on the yoke. The floats kissed the water then settled in the gentle surf, coming to a halt well before the other end of the cove where the cliffs rose up out of the water.
Hawk let go of the breath he’d been holding and turned to Kalea. “I take back all the bad things I was thinking back along the Kohala coastline. And it might be too soon in our relationship, but I think I’m in love.” He reached across, gripped her cheeks between his palms and leaned close to try and kiss her. Their microphones bumped against each other.
Kalea laughed, pushed hers aside and his, and then kissed him. “I have to admit, in all the hours I’ve flown, I’ve never had an emergency landing. That was a first for me.”
He shook his head. “And you were so cool and calm.”
She reached for the radio, turned to the emergency frequency and pressed the mic key. “Mayday, mayday, mayday.” She waited for a response. When no one came back to her, she frowned, turned the knob and listed. No crackling sounds of static, or anything sound for that matter, came through the headsets. “The radio is out.”
“Won’t the ATC send a search plane out when you don’t show up in Honolulu?”
“No one knows I’m coming. I didn’t
file a flight plan. We didn’t want anyone to know we were flying and give the killer notice we were leaving the island.” She stared across at Hawk. “We might be here a while until my father realizes we didn’t check in.”
“At what point might that be?” Hawk asked.
“He might not worry until after the meetings were to take place.”
“That would be later tonight.” Hawk looked out the window at the clouds gathering to the southwest. “Maleko called it.”
“How so?”
“He told me to pack for a few days. What he didn’t say was to pack in food and drink for that many days.”
“If we aren’t discovered for a few days, we have another problem.”
“As if we didn’t have enough already,” Hawk muttered. “What else?”
“This island doesn’t have a fresh water source.” She looked around in the back of the plane. “I usually leave a couple of bottles of water in the plane. But the last time I flew, I used one.” She unbuckled her seatbelt. “We’d better get moving before the storm hits. I don’t want to leave my plane in the water. I’d like to drag it to shore, if at all possible, and tie it down.”
“Let’s do this. I mean how long could it take someone to figure out we’re stranded and come looking for us?”
“Hopefully not long. The weatherman did say the storm heading our way might last a couple of days. But even then, a boat from Maui could get here if the seas aren’t too rough. The coastguard helicopters could find us and notify the shore patrol to come pick us up.”
“I love your optimism.” Hawk grinned. “But just in case, let’s get what we need off the plane and pull the plane up on shore. I saw what appeared to be dirt roads leading up to a building a little farther inland. The plane is pretty small, we might want to consider sheltering from the storm in the building.”
The storm the weatherman had said wouldn’t arrive until later that evening had picked up steam and was bearing down on the island like a freight train on a downhill run. The clouds thickened, turning an angry shade of gray.
Hawk stripped out of his shirt, shoes and trousers and stuffed them into the backpack along with the rest of his clothes.
“What are you doing?” she asked, her eyebrows rising.
“Getting ready to swim the plane in. Is there a tie-down line?”
“Yeah. Let me get it.” Kalea climbed out onto the one of the floats and worked her way around to the storage compartment while the little plane rocked on the waves that were getting bigger the closer the storm moved. She removed the line from the compartment and tied it to a metal loop on one of the floats.
Hawk dropped down onto the float beside her.
She handed the line to him and climbed back into the plane.
Hawk dove into the water.
A moment later, Kalea dove in beside him. When she surfaced, she wore only her bra and panties. “It will probably take the two of us to drag the plane ashore.”
With both of them pulling on the line, they swam and tugged the plane through the water and tide until they made it to shore. Once they had their feet in the sand, they leaned back in an intense tug-of-war, between themselves and the sea, to get the plane as far up on the shore as they could.
Breathing hard and tired, they tied the plane to a rock and sank to their knees in the sand.
“At least, the tide is in. Hopefully, it won’t go much higher, even with the storm kicking up waves.” Hawk pushed to his feet and walked in his boxer briefs to the plane. There, he unloaded his backpack, dressed in shorts and a T-shirt and pulled his shoes on his feet.
Kalea appeared beside him. “Where do you get all that energy?” she grumbled. The wind had already begun to dry her hair. Strands whipped around her face. She pushed it behind her ears and turned to the plane.
“Do you want your backpack and your suitcase?”
She shook her head. “The suitcase can stay. I’ll need my backpack and my clothes.”
He handed her the shirt, trousers and low-heeled shoes she’d worn on the flight. While she dressed, he slung their backpacks over his shoulder and hiked to the edge of the little beach. From the air, he’d noticed a faded dirt road leading up the hill to an old abandoned building. They could hole up there, until the storm passed.
Kalea joined him, and they headed up the hill, finding the dirt road as they moved through low-lying scrub.
“I don’t understand why the engine cut out,” she said, chewing her bottom lip. “The annual came back clean, and I did the usual preflight checks before we got in. All I can figure is something contaminated the fuel. But that doesn’t explain why the radio stopped working.”
“Who knew we were flying out today besides your father, Maleko and me?”
Kalea shook her head. “Did we mention it when Clarise and Beckett were there at dinner?”
Hawk frowned. “Beckett mentioned that you were going to the Tourism Commission meeting today. Both he and Miss Sanders knew you were coming.”
Kalea’s brow dipped into a V. “You don’t think either one of them might have sabotaged my plane, do you?”
Pushing his hand through his hair, Hawk shrugged. “I don’t know, but who else would have known you were going, other than the people at the little airport when you called to have them pull the plane out?”
“I trust the people at the airport. It’s so small. Everyone knows everyone. So many of the people in Waimea depend on Parkman Ranch for their livelihoods,” Kalea looked toward Hawk, her gaze troubled. “Why would they want to hurt a Parkman?”
“Jealousy? Anger over rich versus poor? There could be any number of reasons.” Hawk looked around at the semi-desolate island. “Has your father fired anyone lately?’
“No.”
“Did Nate ever work for your father?”
“No,” Kalea came to a stop at a fork in the dirt road. “None of this is making any sense.”
Hawk steered her left and continued walking. “What would Beckett or Miss Sanders gain if you died?”
“I can’t imagine,” Kalea said. “My father isn’t going to change his mind about the resort, whether I live or die.”
“What about Miss Sanders kissing your father’s cheek last night?”
“What about it?”
“Is she interested in your father?”
Kalea shrugged. “I think so.”
“Does she see you as a threat? Or maybe someone standing in her way of making a move on dear old dad?”
Kalea’s brow knit. “My dad isn’t old. And I’m not standing in the way of my father falling in love again. I want him to be happy.”
Hawk raised his hands. “Just trying to work through the possibilities. I’m not saying anything, just playing devil’s advocate.”
“Clarise has been spending an inordinate amount of time at the ranch lately,” she said slowly.
“Does she need to work at the ranch for her marketing position?”
Kalea shook her head. “Not really. She has an office in Waimea.”
“For an employee, she was very cozy with your father, and she made plans with your chef as if she had the right to do so,” Hawk pointed out.
“She can be pushy, but I don’t like playing the hostess gig, so I don’t mind.” Kalea’s lips twisted thoughtfully. “And Dad didn’t seem to mind. But she wasn’t the one who attacked me in the parking lots at Hilo or Waimea.”
Hawk shifted the backpacks on his shoulder. “She could have hired Nate to do that.”
“Come to think of it, Nate isn’t as tall as the guy who attacked me at the hardware store in Hilo. However, he could have been the one who tried to get to me in Waimea, and he was the one on the ATV.” She shot another glance at Hawk. “Could there be more than one guy out there gunning for me?”
Hawk didn’t like seeing her confidence fade. He slipped an arm around her and brought her to a halt. “Hey, stick with me. I’ll do my best to keep you safe.”
She leaned into him briefly. “I can’t imagine w
hat I would have done if I’d been out riding alone when Nate attacked on his ATV.” She laughed, though it sounded shaky. “You were amazing, grabbing him as he tried to run you over.”
“I got lucky,” Hawk said, his jaw tightening. “He could have killed us both.”
She grabbed his arm, forcing him to stop and look at her. “But he didn’t. For that I’m thankful.” She leaned up on her toes and pressed her lips to his. “Thank you.”
Hawk pulled her into his arms and crushed her to his chest, his mouth descending to claim hers in a much longer, more thorough kiss. When he set her back on her feet, he lifted his head and stared down into her eyes. “Thank you for delivering us safely to this island. I’m in awe of your flying skills.”
She laughed and leaned into him. “Don’t thank me until we’re rescued from this pile of rocks.”
He took her hand and held it the rest of the way to the building he’d seen from the sky. After a couple near-death experiences with the beautiful Hawaiian, Hawk couldn’t think of anything he’d rather be doing than holding her hand and being with her.
Unless being with her in a different location was an option.
Chapter 12
Kalea was glad for the hand holding hers. With the sky darkening to a wicked shade of steel gray, she was concerned for their safety. The last she’d heard on the weather report was that the storm was building and could reach cyclone status. And it was headed straight for the Hawaiian Islands.
Kaho’olawe was light on vegetation, relying mostly on rain to sustain itself. The few buildings on the island had been erected during World War II and had weathered many storms, but there had been little maintenance following each storm. Would the building they were heading toward be sufficient shelter from the storm or be made dangerous by flying debris?