by Toby Neal
“You earned it, LT.” Kerry brought me the still-warm liver, and God help me, I ate the palm-sized organ in just a few nausea-inducing bites while Falconer used flexible strips of the spines of banana leaves to tie a crude pad of leaves over my wound.
My stomach lurched, but the liver made it down. I breathed through it, refusing to gag, knowing my body needed the nourishment no matter how disgusting. Falconer tied off the strips, and once they were holding the pad of leaves in place, he and MacDonald helped maneuver the undershirt on over it. He helped me up.
“You can use my uniform shirt to carry the pig,” I suggested. MacDonald nodded, taking the ruined garment and buttoning the pig’s carcass into it. Using one of the shelter poles, he and Kerry slung the meat over their shoulders while I focused on getting my socks and shoes on my ruined feet.
Ten minutes later we were moving. I brought up the rear, watching out back as I’d done before, the M16 cradled loosely in one arm as I kept the other down and clamped at my side. The makeshift bandage rubbed the wound painfully and the makeshift ties of banana fiber soon frayed apart, but I didn’t want to slow us down.
“Far from life endangering, except for infection,” as Falconer had so dismissively said. But it hurt like a sonofabitch, and I mentally willed the blood trickling down my side to wash the bacteria from the pig’s tusks out of the cut.
We were heading east now, and the going was slow, as we’d reached an area of heavier undergrowth. Tall mahogany, kapok, and Brazil nut trees still towered overhead, but now we pushed our way through stands of palm-like plants, bromeliads, and wild ginger. Vines and ferns tangled up the trunks of the trees and tripped us. Falconer continued to lead the way, checking the compass on the knife and using it to hack the vines out of the way as he needed to.
The pig weighed about fifty pounds, a significant amount in our weakened state, and the men paused in an open area to move the pole to their other shoulders just as Falconer seized something that wasn’t a vine.
He’d grabbed some sort of slender green snake. He gave a grunt of surprise and heaved it instinctively away—straight onto Kerry. The snake, about two feet long, landed on Kerry’s chest. The young man yelped and grabbed at it, dropping the pole. The pig slid out of the sling into the leaves, and Kerry stumbled to one knee. The snake coiled backward and sank its teeth into his wrist.
Lei got a ride out to her shot-up truck with the narco team—Shepherd wanted to check the area where she’d left Tony bound in the jungle personally. They rounded the curve of the bluff where Lei had reached the road and flagged down the Mustang. It felt like a lifetime ago.
“I didn’t send Hana PD out here right away because I knew Boss Man was right behind me. I just assumed he’d free the boy and take him with him, but once I saw what he’d done out at that shack…” She shook her head. “He clearly doesn’t care who he hurts. Straight into the trees from here.” Lei pointed as they pulled over and parked. “I’m not surprised Hana PD wanted to wait for me to come out to check on the kid’s location—it was hard to describe. I was so amped up when I got out of there I hardly registered details of the car I commandeered, let alone how to describe what the exact area looked like.”
Late evening was casting long shadows under the trees as Lei led the two narcotics detectives through the trees. It was a surprisingly long way inland through thick underbrush and trees, at least half a mile, by the time they found the teen.
They could see by the track of disturbed leaves that Tony had managed to wriggle twenty or so feet from where she’d left him. He was butted up against the trunk of a kukui nut tree, apparently rubbing the belt on his feet against it in an attempt to escape. His dark eyes glared at them from over the T-shirt she’d used to gag him so many hours before. Tears, snot, and dried blood from his nose covered his face.
“Hey, Tony. I see Uncle didn’t take you with him.” Lei folded her arms as Shepherd and his partner freed the boy’s feet and took off the gag. “I’m thinking you’re actually lucky he didn’t put a bullet in your head. Guess he just left you to die of thirst instead.”
“Screw you, bitch,” Tony whispered hoarsely.
Shepherd looked at Lei. “Want I should put the gag back on him, Sergeant?”
She and the kid stared at each other for a long moment, and the boy was the first to look away. “No. He’s going to mind his manners now. Aren’t you, Tony?”
The boy refused to look at her, clearly not wanting to be gagged again. “I need to piss.”
Lei turned and headed back toward the vehicles as Shepherd assisted with that awkward necessity. She reached the road and walked down it, arriving at her truck.
The sight of her ruined vehicle, covered from top to bottom with bullet holes, brought tears of angry exhaustion to Lei’s eyes. She fumbled her key out of her pocket and unlocked the truck, then retrieved the satellite phone from her purse under the front seat. It flashed with a message.
She called the voice mail. The satellite connection worked, even out here.
“This is Lieutenant Colonel Westbrook. We have a situation to discuss. Please call me as soon as possible.” Her finger hovered over Call Back, but just then Shepherd’s black SUV rolled up. She wanted privacy for that call.
She tucked the phone into her filthy pants and picked up her purse, sunglasses, and Kiet’s booster seat. “Can you give me a ride back to Kahului?” she asked Shepherd, carefully not looking at Tony. The kid was sitting way in the back of the vehicle, still in cuffs.
“Man, Sergeant. They did a number on your vehicle. Automatic rounds?” Shepherd said.
“Yeah.” Lei relocked her vehicle, and it gave a strangled bleep at the electronic signal.
“I’ll get Impound to tow it to Kahului for you.” He reached for his radio and called it in.
“It’s evidence now,” Lei said grimly. “At least that way I don’t have to pay for my own damn tow.” Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Tony duck his head. She hoped it was a little shame that made him do so, but that was probably too much to hope for. He was pretty far beneath Boss Man’s thumb.
She got into the front seat beside Shepherd since his partner was already sitting in the back. “So, Tony.” She turned to the boy as they reversed and got on the road. “I have to stop at Hana Police Station to make sure your friends have a foster care situation to go to. Remember them? Kekoa, Danny, and Dexter?”
Tony kept his head down but his shoulders hunched. Definitely a reaction there. Might as well get to work popping his illusions about Uncle Boss Man. “He left those boys bound and gagged in their shack, and he booby-trapped it to blow. Real nice man, your uncle.”
The boy’s head came up. His eyes blazed, dark and feral. “You lie!”
“Me, lie?” Lei turned to the other cops. “Detectives, did you get some photos of the scene when we first approached the shack?”
“I did, Sergeant,” the partner said. “Got some right here, on my phone.”
“Would you show Tony a picture of the bombs set to blow on the shack? And of the boys inside. Please.” She kept her voice flat, overly polite, and he returned in kind.
“Happy to, Sergeant.” He scrolled to the photos on his phone. Lei watched Tony’s face as the teen was forced to see what he didn’t want to know.
“Now you understand why I was happy to see that Uncle had left you alive even though you failed him,” Lei said softly. “When I left you there, I assumed he would free you when he found you, that he would take you with him. But once I saw how he treated the other boys, I realized you’d be lucky to be alive. He doesn’t deserve your help.”
Tony shook his head, a slight negation.
Lei persisted. “What’s his name? That’s all we need. His name.”
Tony hung his head. “Uncle was angry I let you get away. Said I was a screw-up and always would be. Said he was leaving me there so I would learn a lesson. After a few hours I realized he was never coming back.” The boy lifted his head and narrowed his eyes at Lei.
“I learned my lesson—it’s all your fault.”
Lei sighed, turned back to face out the windshield. “Guess you just need some jail time. I tried.” She lifted her feet up and rested them on the dashboard, feeling infinitely weary. “Did I or did I not try to help this boy, Detectives?”
“You did, Sergeant.”
Shepherd switched on some mellow Hawaiian slack-key guitar, and Lei leaned her head on the window.
Back at Hana PD, they booked Tony Akahi on charges of attempted murder, destruction of property, and assault with a deadly weapon. The boy was stonily silent as one of the officers put him in a cruiser for the drive to Kahului.
Lei focused on the boys who remained. The three of them stood up when she went into the interview room where they’d been stashed. A pile of food wrappers and soda cans testified to their snacking while she’d been gone.
“We found Tony. He’s still loyal to Uncle, even though Uncle cussed him out and left him tied up in the jungle. But that boy’s brainwashed.” She flapped a hand, dismissing Tony and his delusions. “It’s you guys I’m concerned about. I have a friend. Her name’s Elizabeth Black, and she’s a social worker. She’s on her way, and she has a big heart. She was so pissed when I told her about Uncle and Aunty Selina. We still need a name for Uncle. Did you ever hear him called anything?”
“No. Only ‘Boss’ or ‘Uncle,’” Danny said.
Dexter blinked slowly. He still looked dazed, but the food appeared to have restored him a little. “His first name was Noah. I never heard his last name.”
Lei touched Dexter’s shoulder lightly, appreciating what it meant for the kid to give up the man’s name. “Thanks. That helps. It really does.”
Lei went to the door and told Shepherd to include the first name Noah in the BOLO they had out on the murderous pot grower. She came back in and shut the door. “So I have to go back to Kahului. But I want you to trust Elizabeth. She’ll look out for you.”
Danny grabbed her hand. “Don’t go, Aunty.”
Aunty. The title of respect children called women they cared for in Hawaii. Lei was being called Aunty. Her eyes prickled. She would really have to see what Elizabeth said about taking care of the boys.
Elizabeth appeared, her strong-boned face peering through the wire-laced window in the door. Lei opened it. “And here’s Ms. Black now. Let me talk with her a minute.”
Lei slipped out and tugged Elizabeth a few feet away from the door. Elizabeth’s twin iron-gray braids hung over sturdy shoulders, emphasizing the Native American shape of her eyes and jaw, the strong look of her face.
“These boys are wounded. Traumatized,” Lei said. “They were kept isolated and used as slave labor. For months. We don’t know how long, exactly.”
“I’m going to see those fake foster parents prosecuted to the full extent of the law,” Elizabeth swore, dark eyes hard.
“Yeah, of course you are, and I’ll help with that. But that doesn’t help them right now. They’re terrified, and they bonded to me during the rescue. Can I take them home? Just until you find placements?”
“Lei, you need that like a hole in the head. Especially with your husband overseas. What, you’re going to fill your house with needy strays so you don’t have to remember that? You already have a kid you haven’t seen all day.” Elizabeth frowned at her. “I’d consider it, if I thought you’d actually be around to take care of them.”
Lei ducked her head, feeling smacked and knowing Elizabeth was right. “Fine. But you can’t separate them. I’m really worried about Dexter.” She filled Elizabeth in on recent events and Dexter’s behavior. “I’d keep him under suicide watch.”
“I have a therapeutic crisis home to put them in, where they can all stay together. Introduce me.”
Lei pushed the interview room door open and went in, Elizabeth following. The boys had tidied their mess into a rubbish basket and now sat around the table with their handheld games. They dropped these and looked up apprehensively.
“Boys, this is Elizabeth Black. She’s a social worker, and it’s her job to make sure you’re taken care of. Ms. Black, this is Kekoa, Danny, and Dexter.”
The boys each stood and shook Elizabeth’s hand. The social worker smiled at them, an expression so warm and luminous that it totally changed her stern face. “I’m happy to meet such incredibly brave young men. I have a place for you to stay for the next few days, and you’ll all be together.”
“We want to go with her.” Danny pointed at Lei.
“I’m sorry, but that’s not possible,” Elizabeth said. “As you can see, Sergeant Texeira is a hard-working police detective. She’s doing all she can to capture the man who kept you out there, and we need her to do that. But she’ll stay in touch, won’t she?” Elizabeth gazed at Lei.
“Absolutely. You couldn’t keep me away. I’ll bring my son to meet you. And maybe my dogs. They’re Rottweilers, and they love kids. But for now you guys need to get ready for hot showers, soft beds, lots of food and video games.” Grins spread slowly across the boys’ faces at this. “Try not to have too much fun until I see you next, okay?” Lei waved goodbye, and was able to close the door, leaving them with a lighter heart.
She could add three boys to the short list of kids she was mentoring, topped by an extraordinary Filipina girl she’d busted on Oahu.
Lei finished the paperwork she had to leave at Hana Station and hopped into the SUV with Shepherd. “Please drop me off in Haiku. I’m going straight home.”
On the way back, Lei used the satellite phone to call Captain Omura and brief her on the afternoon’s events. “I saw the BOLO on that grower,” Omura said. “Do you have a photo of the perp?”
“No, but the boys at the station are being interviewed with the social worker, and Narco is sending over a sketch artist,” Lei said. “Right, Shepherd?”
The bald man nodded. The weather-beaten detective drove the windy, narrow, overgrown road with the lights and sirens on and confident vehicle handling. “He’s on his way. He’ll meet with the boys before they go to the crisis shelter.”
“We’ll get him.” Once she was done and had the next day’s plan lined up, she ended the call and addressed Shepherd. “Thanks for getting me home quickly. I have a really important personal call I have to make.”
“Heard your husband was overseas.” Shepherd glanced at her. “Something to do with that?”
“Yeah.” Lei looked back out the window at the lush foliage streaming by. She liked the detective, but she didn’t want to say anything more to this man she barely knew. “Today’s adventure was just supposed to be a half-day cold case.”
“That’s what you get for hiking up into one of those Hana valleys by yourself,” Shepherd said. “Nobody in Narco would be that crazy.”
“That’s what my partner, Pono Kaihale, told me.” Lei sighed, smoothing her springing hair back into its ponytail. The day’s exertions had taken a toll. Her regular phone rang as they reached cell service again. “Sergeant Texeira.”
“Hey, Lei. This is Aina Thomas.” The Coast Guard officer’s voice was warm, and Lei’s pulse picked up. She clung to her resolve from earlier in the day not to encourage him.
“How can I help you, Petty Officer?” Lei spoke briskly, conscious of Shepherd right beside her.
“Oh. You can’t talk. Gotcha. Well, I was wondering if you thought more about going out to dive that wreck in Lahaina. It would be good to keep your scuba skills up.” He’d asked her to go diving not long ago.
“I appreciate the idea, but I’m up to my eyeballs in work right now. Can’t possibly get away.”
“Maybe another time?” He sounded so nice, so interested in her. It would be great to do something fun and relaxing with someone who liked her for herself. But no. She couldn’t, not when Stevens was captive. No matter what Kathy Fraser was to her husband, she wasn’t going to make the same mistake.
“Not sure it’s something I can ever make time for. But thanks. You’re very kind.” Lei ended the cal
l gently but firmly, wishing it hadn’t been so hard to do, but meaning every word. He was kind, and she could use a little more of that in her life.
But not from an incredibly attractive man who wasn’t her husband.
With the siren and lights clearing the road, the drive that usually took two hours took only one, but it was still dark when Shepherd turned into her driveway.
The dogs burst into aggressive barking at the sight of a strange vehicle as Lei keyed open the gate.
“No worries about your security,” Shepherd said as the Rottweilers circled the vehicle, menacing snarls turning to ecstatic whimpers when Lei opened the door to pet them. “Beautiful animals.”
“They take care of us as much as we take care of them.” Lei waved goodbye as the detective turned around and the gate rumbled shut.
Kiet had been waiting at the door until the other car left, and now he flew down the porch stairs to embrace her, burrowing his dark head into her stomach. “You’re late, Mama.”
“I know, little man.” She hefted Kiet up and then spun him around for a few steps until he giggled. “I’ve never been so happy to be here.” She kissed him, peppering his face with smacks until he wiggled and squirmed.
Her father, Wayne, stood in the door, backlit, his tall form and curly head a welcome sight. Warm smells, redolent of garlic and ginger, rolled out to greet her with all the love and nourishment of home.
In her pocket the satellite phone seemed to pulse urgently with news of the one she loved who should be here, too—and wasn’t. She’d get to the phone call after dinner. She deserved to sit down and eat in peace, after all that had happened today.
Carrying her son, Lei went up onto the porch and into the light and good smells, the dogs at her side.
Chapter Eighteen
Kerry screamed as the snake struck his wrist a second time, but he was still holding it in his panic. Falconer tore it out of his hand and heaved it away.