Spider Bones

The day is too beautiful for death, I thought. Death at sixteen.

Ryan was unlocking the car when tires squealed behind us.

We both whipped around.

Blue lights flashed from the front grille and back window of Lô’s Crown Vic.

I looked at Ryan. His face told me he shared my apprehension.

We hurried toward Lô.

“I’m glad I caught you.” He spoke through his open window. “Fitch called. Word is Atoa was T’eo’s hit.”

“He ordered one of his own killed?” I was shocked and appalled.

“Someone must have seen Atoa entering or leaving the station, dimed T’eo. T’eo decided to make an example.”

“Christ,” Ryan said.

“Word is Ted Pukui got twenty thousand to take the kid out.”

We waited.

“Fitch heard Atoa’s only the warm-up. T’eo plans to send a message, not just here but to all the cuz on the mainland.” Lô snorted his disgust. “Grow his legend.”

Lô’s eyes shifted from Ryan to me and back.

“Where are your daughters?”

“At home.” A cold fist grabbed my heart. “Why?”

“Call them.”

Ryan dialed the house. Got no answer. Lily’s mobile. Voice mail. He handed me the phone. I dialed Katy. Voice mail.

“Why are you asking about Katy and Lily?” I demanded.

“Word is T’eo’s offered another twenty thousand for you or one of your kids.”

The cold fist expanded to fill my chest.

“He was behind the incident at Waimanalo Bay. Cost him a case of rum to have those punks force you off the road.”

“Why?”

“To discourage you from helping Perry. Didn’t work, and now you’re causing serious inconvenience. This time he’s offering big money.”

I saw fury enter Ryan’s eyes. Felt it in mine.

“But his intel’s off on your kids. According to Fitch, T’eo’s order was to take out either white or brown sugar.”

WHEN OVERWHELMED BY EMOTION, MY MOTHER CLOSED THE door. I do the same.

Though rage and fear battled inside me, outwardly I remained icy calm.

“Follow me.” Lô flicked a button. A pulsing wail split the afternoon calm.

Pedestrians craned their heads. Or froze. Or continued with their day. Cars nosed toward the curbs.

Ryan sprinted, yanked his door open, threw himself behind the wheel. I was right with him.

Palm-smacking the gearshift, he slammed his foot on the gas. The car jerked forward.

“Try again.” Ryan tossed me his cell as we zigzagged through the wormhole created by Lô’s siren.

I braced on the dash and punched digits one-handed.

Still no one picked up.

“They were told to stay at the house.” Ryan kept two hands on the wheel, two eyes on the road.

“Maybe they’re at the pool,” I said.

It was lame. We both knew they’d have taken their phones with them.

Traffic was heavy, but thanks to the lights and siren we made it to Kailua in twenty-three minutes.

Over the bridge, a wend through Lanikai, then a fishtail turn up the drive.

Ryan and I flew from the car and raced into the house.

“Katy?”

“Lily?”

Our calls were answered by silence.

I pumped up the stairs. Ryan rushed outside. Seconds later we met in the kitchen. Lô was already there. Our faces told the story.

“Where the hell are they?” Fear added a tremor to my voice.

Ryan laid a hand on my shoulder. “I’m sure they’re fine.”

Lô was punching buttons on his cell when a sliding door whurped across its track.

Six eyes flew toward the dining room.

“Finally.” Katy managed to sound both petulant and anxious at the same time.

“Where’s Lily?” I barked.

“That’s what I’d like to know. She went off with some skanky-looking loser. I got worried, went out looking for her. First the mall, now tonight. One more and technically she’s on a spree.”

“Why didn’t you call me?”

“I have been calling you. Over and over.” Sudden realization. “Oh, crap. I’m an idiot. Your BlackBerry’s in the ocean.”

“How long since they left?” Lô asked.

“Maybe thirty minutes.”

“What did the guy look like?”

“Who are you?”

“He’s a detective,” I snapped. “Answer his questions.”

“Is Lily in danger?” Panic filled Katy’s eyes. “I told her not to go.”

“What did he look like?” Lô repeated.

“Dreads, chains, the whole banger thing.”

Lô slanted a look at Ryan.

“Do you know where they went?” I worked to hide the dread building inside me.

“Up some trail. Skank-boy told her the view was primo.”

“Kaiwa Ridge.” Lô was already moving.

“You two stay here.” Ryan bolted after Lô.

I spun to face Katy. “Give me your sneakers.”

“What?”

“Just do it.”

She unlaced and handed them to me. I kicked off my sandals and yanked them on.

“Jacket.”

She tossed it.

“Lock every door, arm the security system, then go to your room and stay there. If an alarm sounds, don’t wait. Call nine-one-one.”

“But—”

“Do it! We’re all in danger. Be alert.”

Pulling the jacket over my head, I bounded out the door.

The sun was low, throwing long ink houses and hedges across the lawn and street. Soon it would be full dark.

I looked left, right.

A block south Ryan was turning from Mokulua onto Kaelepulu, ru

I sprinted through fingers of sunlight and shadow. I had no idea where Lô was going. If I lost sight of Ryan I was done.

I rounded the corner. Several blocks up on the right was the entrance to the Mid-Pacific Country Club. Just beyond it, Ryan cut left.

I kicked hard, reached the spot, saw a driveway joining the road. Veered onto it.

Just ahead, Ryan was disappearing into a black hole in vegetation beside a chain-link fence.

I raced toward the opening.

A narrow path snaked uphill at an impossible angle.

Lily may need you!

Grabbing the fence with one hand and a tree branch with the other, I planted a foot and hauled myself onto the trailhead.

Loose soil and pebbles cascaded downward.

My sneaker lost traction.

I fell.

Pain exploded in my already bruised kneecap.

I rose. Tested.

Go!

Advancing from tree to tree, I dragged myself upward.

A hundred yards? Two hundred? At the time it seemed like a climb up Everest.

Finally the trail leveled off. The trees gave way to low-lying scrub, grass, and lava rock.

Ryan and Lô were visible far up the ridgeline, dark figures moving fast through the murky dusk.

Dear God!

The trail crawled the edge of a precipice. No guardrail. No tree trunks. Nothing to the left but yawning space.

I stood panting, heart thudding in my chest.

Far below I could see Kailua Bay to the north and Waimanalo Bay to the south. Lilliputian houses. Lanikai Beach. The two little Mokulua Islands, tiny black bumps in a pumpkin-slashed sea.

Wind danced my jacket and whipped my hair into a banshee tangle. Loose gravel slithered below the way too smooth rubber on the soles of my sneakers.

The height. The treacherous footing. Fear for Lily.

Adrenaline had me wired to hell and back.

I pushed on.

Ten minutes scrabbling upward, then I rounded a curve.

A black cutout rose from the ridgeline above, roughly twenty-five yards from me. Square. Concrete. A leftover from World War II.

I could see a figure on the near side of the pillbox. Ryan, crouched, ready to spring.

At that distance, I couldn’t tell what held his attention. Lô was nowhere to be seen.

I took a moment to assess.

The pillbox faced the sea. My approach would be invisible to anyone in it. The wind would mask any sounds I might make.

Gingerly placing each foot, I crept forward.

I was ten feet out when Ryan whipped around, ready to attack.