“This is a spot we don’t tell the tourists about. It’s too dangerous.” Her voice quavered.
He could feel her fear and wished he could take it away. If he could find the spot by himself, he’d tell her to stay back, but he needed her. “You can do it, Annie.” He squeezed her hand. She squeezed back but didn’t say anything.
His breath rasped in his throat from the exertion. The breeze brought an occasional whiff of sulfur to his nose. They were rushing faster than was safe, but they had no choice if they hoped to get there before midnight. And what if they got out there and no one was there? He realized he should have called Sam. What was he thinking? They’d been so intent on rushing to Leilani’s rescue, all rational thought had left his head.
He paused at the top of a hill. Annie’s exhausted panting made him worry. “Rest a second.” Digging his cell phone out, he clicked it on and waited for a signal.
Annie shook her head. “Don’t bother. You can’t get a signal out here.”
“I was going to call Sam.”
“I thought of that too. But Fawn will have called him by now.”
“She won’t know what to tell him.”
“She knows enough to tell him to check out Gina.”
“He won’t know it’s crucial to look tonight. Besides, what if it’s not Gina at all? There’s no guarantee she’s involved with the cult. Maybe I was grasping at straws.”
“I still think it’s her, Mano.” She stopped and grabbed his arm. “Wait, I just remembered something. She has a collection of Greek figurines. Her favorite one is Nemesis. The goddess of revenge.” She grabbed his hand. “It’s Gina, Mano!”
“Let’s go.” He grabbed her hand, and they ran across the hardened lava again. The air was beginning to get hotter, and now he could taste the sulfur in the air, feel it burn his nose and throat.
They jogged for what seemed forever. The illuminated dial on his watch said they’d been traipsing over the lava field for nearly two hours. “It’s just over that hill.” She pointed, and he saw the glow.
“Come on.” He tugged on her hand, but she pulled out of his grasp.
“I can’t.” Her voice sounded strangled. “I can’t go up there.”
Before he could answer, the ground shook under their feet and tossed them to the ground. The jagged lava rock cut his palms, and his cheek stung. He swiped at it and touched moisture. Blood. “Are you okay?”
She struggled to a seated position. “Just go. I can’t go up there.”
He didn’t have time to argue. “Go back to where you can get a cell phone signal. Call Sam and tell him to get up here.” She nodded, and he took off toward the glow over the hill. He hated to leave her behind, but they had only minutes before midnight. He reached the crest of the hill and moved into the valley. The stench was stronger, and he could feel the instability of the ground under his feet. He hurried toward a large black rock, then peered around it.
A heiau had been erected near the edge of a giant skylight. Several figures were crowded around the slab altar. A white-robed figure lay there. She wasn’t moving. At first Mano feared he was too late, then he saw Leilani’s head move in a dreamy motion. He realized that she’d been drugged.
The nearest figure held a long, curved knife aloft. He was going to have to move fast. Slipping his hand into his pocket, he reached for his gun. There was nothing there. He checked the other pocket and came up empty again. It must have fallen out when he fell. He’d have to fake it. Glancing around, he saw a rock that had the right shape and grabbed it.
“Stay right where you are!” he shouted. He advanced toward the group.
The figure with the knife turned around, and he inhaled sharply at the sight of Gina, her hair perfectly coiffed as always.
Twenty-six
Stupid and cowardly. Annie paced with Wilson in her arms. She’d gotten through on the cell phone after moving only a few yards and called Sam. Though he’d been skeptical that someone like Gina could be behind Leilani’s disappearance, he promised to come out as soon as he wrapped up an attempted robbery investigation.
What if Mano needed help now? Annie turned and looked back out over the lava field. She used to hop along that rugged landscape like a feral sheep. Now she was as timid and awkward as the nene, the Hawaiian goose that roamed this area. She wanted to throw off the fear that held her rooted to the spot, but she wasn’t sure how. What was it that Fawn had told her? Something about fear and God. She thought a moment, then the verse came to mind.
For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.
She’d always been proud of her mind. Her intellect was one area in which she excelled. God had given her the ability to think. She needed to use it now. This fear that paralyzed her was not from God.
Praying the whole way, she put one foot in front of the other and started back down the trail to where she’d left Mano. Fawn had called it stepping out in faith. She had promised that if Annie would do it, God would be faithful to help her. And to Annie’s surprise, her faltering courage grew stronger, and her fear lessened. She picked up the pace and began to move as quickly as she could.
She stumbled across something, and it clinked. It didn’t sound like a rock. She flipped on her flashlight and swept the ground with the beam. A glint of metal caught her eye. A pistol. She picked it up and looked it over. It looked like Mano’s. That meant he was without protection. She started off again, running as fast as she dared. Mano needed her help.
She reached the top of the hill and paused. The fear began to creep back when the stench of sulfur grew strong and the fumes burned her eyes and throat. Her foot began to throb. Across this area of instability, the ground could give way with no warning and plunge her into the molten lava. She didn’t think she could go through that again.
Wilson nipped at her chin as if to tell her to go on. Praying harder than she’d ever prayed before, she edged closer to the lava bench. A steam fissure released just to her left, and she bolted back to the top of the hill. She could feel the heat from here. Mano was out there somewhere though. What if he was hurt or injured? She should never have involved him in this. He wasn’t equipped to handle this terrain. But she was a volcanologist, she reminded herself. She knew how to handle herself out here.
She started back into the valley again. The heat grew more intense as she moved closer to the red glow in the distance. The ground moved under her feet like a grumbling stomach. She could feel the bench shift and move like something alive. Sometimes she thought the lava had a mind of its own. She’d seen it do crazy things over the years, all of it impossible to predict. All she could do was go on and pray the ground stayed firm beneath her feet.
A rumble from the bowels of the earth crescendoed, and the rolling tossed Annie to the ground just as another fissure opened up. Wilson slipped out of her shirt and ran away. “Wilson, come back here!” The scalding steam burned the hair from her arms as she quickly scrabbled away. The skin on her arms stung like a sunburn. She had to find Mano and get off this unstable shelf. There was no sacrifice going on back here. No one in their right mind would be this close to the volcano.
She cupped her hands around her mouth to call to him when she heard a sound off to her right, behind a large rock. Creeping to the rock, she peered around it. A giant skylight lay before her. A fountain of lava, as well as steam and vapor, spewed from it occasionally. A heiau crouched too close to the fissure for safety. Mano was brandishing what looked like a gun at the people standing around the altar.
Annie tried to make out the faces of the figures, but there was too much vog and haze. Then she noticed the white form lying on the altar. The spill of dark hair cascading over the edge of the stone slab stabbed Annie with panic. Leilani. It had to be her sister.
There was a shuffling, sliding sound behind her. She whirled in time to see a figure rise up and leap toward her.
Get your hands up where I can see them,” Mano ordered. He gestured with the ro
ck and hoped it was dark enough for all to mistake it for a gun. “Drop the knife, Gina.”
The older woman stood with her eyes wide, then her gaze flickered to something behind him, then back again. “I think you’d better drop your gun, Mano.”
Mano stiffened when he heard a sound behind him. Then Annie called out, “Don’t do it, Mano.” He turned and saw Annie being shoved toward him by Kim Aki.
“Let go of me.” She jerked in the big man’s grasp.
Aki seemed surprisingly gentle as he propelled her along. He stopped and pressed a gun to Annie’s head. “Drop your gun, Oana.”
Mano had no choice but to release the rock he held. It thudded to the ground. They still seemed unaware all he’d held was a rock. He held his hands in the air. “Let her go, Aki.”
Aki lowered the gun and pushed Annie forward. He gripped her by the forearm with one big hand. As Annie neared, her gaze went past Mano to the figure lying on the slab. “Leilani,” she gasped. She jerked her arm loose from Aki’s grip and ran to her sister. Leilani was moving about, but her eyes were still unfocused from whatever drug Gina had given her. Annie slipped her arm under her sister’s head and tried to help her to sit.
Gina jerked her head toward the women. “Get her out of the way,” she told Jason.
Mano moved to intercept Jason, but the young man pointed a gun at him. “Go ahead. I’d love to put a bullet in your chest,” he sneered.
Mano raised his hands and stepped back. He didn’t want to risk Annie getting shot. Jason grabbed Annie’s arm and dragged her away from the altar. He shoved her onto the ground near a large rock. She rubbed her arm and stared up at him, then looked over to Mano with a plea in her eyes.
Mano clenched his fists and searched for a plan, any plan, to stop Gina.
“Gina, I know about your family,” Annie said softly. “I’m so sorry. But please don’t do this to Leilani. She had nothing to do with their deaths. She’s innocent.”
Gina’s eyes glittered in the moonlight. “So were Michelle and Alex. They were just having a good time. Your brother killed them. He took my daughter and my husband. Now his sister will join his mother in paying for his sin.”
“Mother?” Annie’s voice broke. “What about my mother?”
“You really thought she’d kill herself ? She never seemed the type, so I was surprised when everyone bought that story.” Gina gripped the knife and moved closer to the altar where Leilani lay.
Annie rose slowly. “You killed my mother? You threw her into the volcano?”
She closed her eyes, and Mano knew she must be thinking of the horror her mother went through. He itched to move, to do something.
“It seemed a perfect justice,” Gina said. “She put up a good fight and even got away for a while. We chased her over the lava field, though, and the bench gave way. I took that as confirmation that I was doing the right thing.”
“Why did she come out here?”
“She recognized my name when I first arrived and went to the observatory to talk to me. When she was told I was out at the volcano, she followed me out here. She had a picture of my family.” Tears shimmered in Gina’s eyes. “To tell you the truth, I really didn’t want to hurt her. If she’d listened to reason, I would have let her go.”
“You couldn’t let her go. She would have told everyone,” Annie said softly.
Tears began to leak from Gina’s eyes. “You’re right. But she was a mother like me. I was already beginning to love you like a daughter, Annie. I hated to cause you pain.” The tears stopped. She straightened her shoulders. “It had to be done.”
“You made Mother write the suicide note, then threw her into the volcano.” Annie’s voice was choked. “You’ve got your revenge. You don’t need Leilani too.”
Gina shook her head. “I hadn’t planned to take her, but she was going to accuse my idiotic son of stalking her. I couldn’t let that happen. When I realized the akua moon was coming, it seemed perfect to save her for that. Besides, once Leilani is gone, we can build a new family. Your father, me, and Jason.”
“What about Tomi?” Annie asked. “And me?” She glanced up at Mano and discreetly showed him a pistol in her pocket. She must have found the one he lost.
Gina smiled. “He’ll be in jail where he belongs. I don’t want him dead. I want him to suffer for what he’s done.”
“And me?”
Gina frowned. “If you had just stayed out of things. You’ve spoiled it all. I really loved you, you know.” Her voice sounded pained.
“You loved me so much you tormented me with those strange phone calls. That was you, wasn’t it?”
Gina glanced at Jason, who scowled and looked away. “Jason has been a little jealous, I think. Is that what it was, Jason?”
“First Michelle, and then Annie,” he muttered. “You never loved me, Mother.”
“You’re just like your father. Weak and whining. I never wanted any sons. Only daughters. Strong daughters like me.” She looked back at Annie. “And like you, Annie. I never wanted to raise a man to mistreat women like my father did.”
Mano had put the pieces together. “You’re planning to frame Tomi for Noah’s murder, aren’t you? We already know your husband was the CEO of Banos before his death.”
Gina’s smile widened. “You’re smart, Mr. Oana. It’s the perfect plan. Much better than killing him. Once the gun that killed Noah is found among Tomi’s belongings, the police will know they’ve found their man.”
“Noah told me about lying for the casino. That was all going to come out, wasn’t it? So you had him murdered, and if you can frame Tomi, you’ll kill two birds with one stone. Your plan has a flaw, though. Did your stooge tell you that he lost the gun? The police have it. They’re going to figure it all out.”
Gina’s smile faded, and she glared at her son. “Is this true, Jason?”
He shuffled his feet. “I didn’t have a chance to tell you.”
Mano looked at Aki. “What’s your part in all this, Aki? Money?”
Aki shrugged. “Of course.”
“I despise incompetence,” she muttered. She looked at Annie. “Why did you have to come out here, Annie? You are so much like Michelle. You were her replacement in my heart. But I can’t let you live to tell anyone. I’m sorry. It didn’t have to be this way if you’d just kept your nose out of things.”
While Gina was talking, Mano began to edge closer to Annie. “I need to sit down,” he said. No one seemed to object, so he squatted beside Annie. Her arm moved slightly; then she pressed the gun into his hand.
“I won’t tell anyone,” Annie said, standing. “Just let Leilani and me go, and things will be like they were before.”
Gina laughed. “I can see you think I’m crazy, Annie. Maybe I am, but not in a way that makes me stupid. This is about revenge, not madness. You saw my statue of Nemesis. She’s my role model. An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, isn’t that what your Bible says? Nemesis takes justice very seriously. And so do I. This is about justice for Michelle and Alex.”
“But why like this? You’re not even a religious person.” Annie moved toward Gina, then stopped when the older woman held up her hand.
“It seems fitting. And the lava will destroy the evidence. When the heiau is found, the police will naturally assume it’s the work of a cult.” She moved toward the altar. “But I don’t have any more time to chitchat. It’s almost midnight.”
She stepped to the left of the altar and smoothed the white layers of Leilani’s dress out.
“No!” Annie shouted. She jumped up and started toward the heiau. Taking advantage of the distraction, Mano leaped to his feet. Aki moved to intercept Annie. He grabbed her arms and wrenched them behind her back.
“Tie her up. I don’t want any more distractions,” Gina snapped. She lifted the knife.
Mano was glad his military training involved so much nighttime target practice. He prayed for accuracy as he brought the gun up and fired. The gun bucked in his hand. br />
The bullet struck Gina’s hand. She reeled and fell and dropped the knife. Clutching her wrist, she screeched at the men, “Get him, you fools!”
Aki released Annie and turned toward Mano. Annie shrieked and leaped onto his back. She began to pummel his back and pull his hair. He wheeled around in a circle trying to dislodge her, but she clung to him like an octopus.
Jason moved toward Mano, but the SEAL shook his head. “I’ll shoot your mother if you move.”
“Go ahead, what do I care?” Jason continued to advance.
Mano swung the gun around and shot him in the leg. Jason howled and fell to the ground.
Annie screeched, and Mano backed up to put himself in a position to fire. He trained the gun on Aki. “Jump out of the way, Annie!” In a flash, Annie dropped off Aki’s back and danced away before he could touch her. Aki held his hands up. “Sit on your hands,” he told Aki. The man complied, watching the barrel of the gun. Mano gestured to Annie. “Get the knife.”
She hurried to her sister. The knife was lying close to the fissure. She paused, and Mano knew she was too frightened to go closer to the open pit of fire. He glanced at Gina. She was still nursing her wrist. “Never mind,” he called. “Get Leilani out of here.”
She helped her sister sit up. “Come on, Leilani, it’s time to wake up.” She patted Leilani’s cheeks.
Leilani shook her head groggily. “Annie?” Her head lolled back.
Annie shook her gently. “Wake up, Leilani, we have to go home.”
“Bring me that rope when she comes to,” Mano said. “I want to tie up this guy. You’ll need help getting Leilani out.” He turned his head and saw Gina stagger to her feet.
“You’ve spoiled everything!” Gina turned and stumbled toward the knife.
“Stop her!” Mano yelled. He didn’t dare let his attention stray from Aki. Jason was still moaning on the ground. The earth rolled under their feet again, and the fissure spit a fresh fountain of lava and a roiling stench of sulfur. The quake brought Mano to his knees. Aki jumped to his feet, then turned and raced away. Mano struggled up, but the big man had vanished around a rock. The sheriff could track down Aki. He leaped toward Gina, who was bending toward the knife. The ground convulsed again.