Maui Magic

by Terry Ambrose

  I was not suffering from dehydration. My insides were twisting around like snakes in a pit. I stared straight into her eyes. “Listen to me. No matter what happens. Be prepared to run.”

  “McKenna…what’s…”

  “Don’t argue. Just do it. When the time comes, run and don’t look back.”

  47

  “You’re getting kind of intense, McKenna.” Chance forced a nervous laugh as he watched my face.

  Perhaps I’d gone overboard in telling Benni to run—at least, in such vehement terms. No, if there was one thing I knew for sure, Benni played a key role in what was about to happen.

  “This whole thing is giving me chicken skin,” Benni said. She took a breath, bit her lower lip, and spoke in a halting voice. “I think I know how to make this information uncontainable.”

  Her voice shook and it was obvious. She felt it, too. All the more reason to not change my warning. “Better if we focus on how to stay alive and unmask a killer. Otherwise it won’t matter what we do with that thing.”

  It seemed as though all our cards were being played in one winner-takes-all hand—Penny’s phone call.

  “Be sure to tell Poussin how broken up you are over his niece’s passing,” I said. “Can you play it up that you want him to have some of her stuff? You could tell him Mandy said there was something he’d want. It should be enough to bring him out.”

  Chance snorted. “Wow. What a stretch.”

  Benni agreed with Chance, but Lexie took my side. Penny simply had no idea what Poussin would do, but the discussion made me realize I was dodging the issue.

  “I’m getting too used to hanging around Kimu. Let’s take the direct route. Tell him you want money for the evidence against him and he’s got two hours. Chance, why don’t you and Lexie go to the Pony Club now? You can be the early scouts. If there’s a problem, call the cops. Benni and I will wait here with Penny. Between the three of us, we can handle anything that comes up.”

  Chance raised an eyebrow and watched me silently.

  I glared right back at him. “Okay, fine. The two girls can handle the problem. I’ll just sit here and make wisecracks. Happy now?”

  He winked at me and rose. Walked across the room. Turned to face me. “I don’t like it. We need a different plan. And, Benni’s right, we need to make this information uncontainable. We have to make it go viral.”

  Penny sat up in her seat and visibly brightened. “What about a webcast?”

  “That would be awesome,” Lexie said.

  A webcast? Didn’t that take lots of equipment? Money? Time? “Okay, I’m the technology dinosaur, how would we accomplish that?”

  “It’s already done. Mandy and I set everything up when we got here. We were just waiting for the deadline.”

  Benni leaned against the wall and crossed her arms, then sighed. “That solves one problem, but we don’t know how sneaky Poussin will get. We don’t want him coming here, but what if he does?”

  “That would definitely be bad.” More like catastrophic, but it gave me a good idea why Chance didn’t think much of the plan. He wouldn’t come right out and say it, so I might as well do it for him. “What’s the matter, Chance? Are you afraid I won’t be able to defend myself when everything hits the fan? I’ve been in a few other scrapes, you know.”

  He eyed me, obviously considering a snide remark about my ability to handle a physical confrontation. Instead, he let out a heavy breath, and his cheeks grew tight. “Look, McKenna, don’t take this the wrong way, but you’re more of a lover than a fighter.”

  Well, that was better than some things he could’ve called me. I raised one hand and nodded my agreement. “I won’t disagree with you, but I have to be there for the final showdown.”

  “Just remember to bring along your fish.”

  How he was able to say that with a straight face baffled me, but I was ready for him. “We’ll order takeout on the way for insurance.”

  He buried his face in his hands, muttered to himself, then glanced up with a broad smile. “We need to move the odds in our favor a bit.” He tapped the screen of his cell phone a couple of times and handed it to Penny. “Use this. All you need to do is dial.”

  “What’s so special about your phone?” I scoffed. “If Poussin’s security team is as good as we think, they’ll identify you and your physical location in no time. That’s only going to put you in the crosshairs. To top it off, it will only make him more suspicious.”

  “Precisely. But, he’s not going to find a number registered to me, this call’s going to be untraceable. When Penny dials, the call will be routed through a P2P secure and anonymous VoIP app.”

  Oh, good grief, the kid was going all Star Wars on me again. “What are you doing, speaking in tongues? What is a pee to secure—I can’t even say it, let alone understand it.”

  “In layman’s terms, the app runs the phone call through the Internet and makes it totally anonymous.” Lexie snickered. “He’s been so proud of himself since he set it up.”

  If Chance’s PI training were coming from any kind of legitimate source, I might actually take this seriously. “Another tip from the scammer detective?”

  “I found this one all on my own. No help from anyone else, Mr. I Can Barely Use My Cellphone.”

  “Fine. Go for it. You’re the techno whiz-kid.”

  “One last thing,” Chance said. “When you talk to Poussin, tell him you’ve got a microchip, not a flash drive. It will be our insurance policy. If all else fails, he’ll be looking for the wrong thing.”

  Penny called Poussin and put him on speaker. He was not a happy camper. Or a trusting one. But, Chance had been right. Poussin freaked out. It could’ve been Chance’s spy technology, hitting him out of the blue with blackmail, or that we simply caught him off guard. In any case, he was almost as freaked out as Penny. Her fingers trembled as she spoke and beads of sweat replaced her tears.

  For some reason, she settled down when Lexie stood behind her and gripped her shoulders. Maybe they had a little sister camaraderie going on. Mine was not to reason why. Mine was to thank goodness we were finally getting a break.

  When it came time to deliver what sales people call the close, Penny pulled it off beautifully. “I’m leaving Hawai‘i and just want to disappear,” she said. “For that to happen, it’s going to cost you fifty grand…”

  “Fifty grand? You’re nothing but a common thief.”

  In retrospect, we should have asked for more. He’d offered me a million bucks and now we were helping him save his business for petty cash.

  “If you don’t have it within two hours, I’m webcasting the evidence of what you’ve done,” Penny said. “Once it’s out there, you’ll never be able to stop it. Fifty grand’s a small price to pay to salvage your Maui operations.”

  “Little girl, I’m in a meeting right now and don’t have time for this crap. I’ll talk to you in the morning.”

  For a moment, it looked like Penny might lose control, but Lexie knelt in front of her and made a fist. She mouthed, “Stay strong.”

  Penny took a deep breath and continued. “Two hours, Mr. Poussin. If you want to save yourself, get the money. Meet me at the Pony Club by the deadline. After that, I email what’s on the microchip to the cops and every press outlet I can think of. By morning, you’ll be front page news all around the world.” She jabbed the phone to disconnect and leaned back in her chair, white knuckles clutching her sides.

  Perhaps we’d asked her to do too much. She’d lost her best friend and now she had to challenge the man who might be the killer. “I’m sorry. Maybe we shouldn’t have forced you to do that.” I reached out to console her, but she shook my hand away.

  “I’ll deal with it,” she snapped. “What do you want me to do next?”

  48

  Tension hung in the room like a thick fog. Penny was will
ing to help—we had that much. I found myself staring at the kitchen tile, an old terra cotta with dark grouting that was popular at one time. The older style reminded me of how Maui made me feel—tired and worn.

  It was Chance who broke the tension with a simple question. “How long’s it take to get to the Pony Club from here?”

  Penny seemed to shake off her fear as she answered. “At this time of night, maybe fifteen minutes. If you’re right about him showing up early—I should go with you.”

  Chance and I regarded each other, and I was convinced we were on the same track. “Well?”

  He scrunched up his face. “I don’t know. I’m inclined to say she should stay here. What do you think, McKenna?”

  “We’re gambling either way. But, the phone trick should slow him down, and I think this is the safe place to be. Poussin wants the flash drive, which means he’ll bring Frank Alvarez into play. If Poussin is going there, Penny should stay here.”

  We took an impromptu, consensus vote—the kind where everyone looks at each other until shoulders begin to shrug and mumbled agreement tumbles from their lips. How very enthusiastic. I surveyed the table one last time. “So, we all agree? Poussin will send Alvarez in early.”

  “It fits.” Benni winked at me.

  Chance watched Penny, his gaze steadfast. “You’re sure Poussin doesn’t know where you live?”

  “Like I said before, we took precautions, but I can’t guarantee anything. The apartment is rented under my alias. We pay the rent in cash. Unlike Mandy, I’ve kept a low profile.” She smiled weakly. “It’s my business, you know?”

  “Okay,” Chance said. “I agree. You should be able to do the webcast without any surprises. Billy will be there to help me if things go bad.”

  I didn’t want to admit it, but for some reason I couldn’t shake the images from the beach. I was the one who was supposed to deal with Alvarez, not Chance. Certainly not Billy. In fact, both of them had been conspicuously absent in the dream. “I need to go with you,” I blurted.

  A chorus of “no ways” erupted around the table. Basically, everyone felt Chance was the one more equipped to handle any confrontation.

  I finally agreed to go along with the plan, but with one caveat. “Lexie, since you’ll be with Chance, you need to hide out and call the cops if anything bad starts to go down. I don’t trust Billy in the least.”

  “Neither do I,” Chance said. “But, Lexie will call for help when it’s time. Right, Lex?”

  She nodded. “I’ve also been taking self-defense classes. I may not be a black belt, but I can kick a guy where it counts.”

  Chance shook his head. “Don’t get carried away, Lex. These guys are bad dudes. Just make the phone call, okay? And, McKenna, you’re going to need a weapon, even if we don’t expect anything to happen.” He glanced around the room, then grimaced.

  “I’m good with a bat.” Quite honestly, the childhood skill of hitting an occasional home run had turned into my crime-fighter’s weapon of choice. I also had the element of surprise on my side. There was not a doubt in my mind, I could whack some bad dude on the head from behind without a second thought.

  “I don’t like this at all,” Benni said. “We have to call the police.”

  I took a deep breath. “I agree with you, but what are you going to tell them? We’re blackmailing a rich guy and think he might send his henchmen around to beat us up?”

  Chance tsk-tsked a couple of times, then shook his head. “It’s a little late for the woe-is-me routine, McKenna. Benni’s concerned, that’s all.”

  “Sorry, I didn’t mean to get snippy. It must be the pressure getting to me. Let’s all bear in mind how much money Poussin has. If he’s as big as Mr. Seagrave said, he could keep someone on his payroll at Maui PD. They could give him a heads up, and then we’d be in real trouble. It’s better to keep this quiet.”

  “Are you having second thoughts?” Chance asked. “We can change the plan if you want.”

  “I’m not suggesting we change our plan, but we might want to think differently. Maybe it’s not the cops or a weapon we need, but a strategic advantage,” I said. “The bar is a good location because it’s public. What we should do is turn this apartment into a public place.”

  Chance raised one eyebrow and glanced down at his watch. “How do you expect to accomplish that in the next—thirty minutes or so?”

  Penny sucked in a breath. “Well, duh, we can do it with the webcast.” She watched me, obviously hopeful. “We have the equipment, and Mandy’s been broadcasting updates. There are a few hundred followers. A bunch of them are press. She also made contacts with some big journalists when she was working for her father.”

  Chance’s eyes lit up. Benni smiled. At last, it finally sounded like we had a plan. Lexie was, of course, otherwise engaged with her phone. Seriously? She wasn’t paying attention? Or was she doing one of those whiz-kid things?

  Lexie held up her cell. “I’ve got the feed. We can monitor it from anywhere.”

  I guess I had my answer. Whiz-kid thing. She and Chance exchanged a high five, and once again, I felt like a dinosaur in a modern world. “Show off,” I grumbled.

  They slapped their palms together again and kissed.

  “Knock it off, you two. Save the make-out session until after we’re finished. Is everyone in?”

  Penny dashed off to the bedroom and returned a minute later with a small camera, a couple of cords, and a tripod. She pressed the button on the top of the camera and her smile fell.

  “It’s dead. We can plug it in.” She disappeared and returned with another cord, then set the tripod in the corner of the room and attached the camera. She plugged the camera and laptop into the power outlet, and made the connection between the two devices. While she finished setting up, Chance and Lexie left for the Pony Club.

  “We’ll go from the camera to the laptop and straight to the feed.” Penny’s eyes were bright. “This is awesome. We’re gonna get that slime. Mandy would be so happy.”

  “This is rock solid? No way to fail?”

  Penny shook her head absently as she checked all the connections. “The delay is no more than a few seconds. We’ve got power on both devices, so everything should be good for as long as we need.”

  Terrific. So why was this so different from the dream? Kimu hadn’t been wrong yet. Why would he mislead me now?

  49

  With Chance and Lexie on their way to the Pony Club, we were now a force of three, not five, and a growing sense of unease filled my thoughts. Did the others feel it, too? I wasn’t about to bring up the subject.

  Benni took the flash drive with her into the bedroom. She assured us she’d be done with the backup by the time we were ready to begin the broadcast. Another blast of wind hit the front of the building, bringing with it a sense of foreboding as Penny and I waited anxiously for Benni to finish.

  “How’s it going?” I called out.

  Benni didn’t answer. I stood to check on her, but there was a loud crack outside, almost like an explosion, and the room plunged into complete darkness. I stumbled to the front window and peered through the glass, but there was nothing to see. The complex was pitch black.

  Inside the apartment, the only light came from the green LED on the laptop. “The storm must have taken out the transformer. Is everyone okay?”

  “I’m fine.” Penny’s weak acknowledgement was followed by a bump and some tumbling noises. Kitchen drawers opened and slammed shut. “Where’s the stupid flashlight?”

  “You don’t keep it out?” How could that be? Who hid their emergency supplies? And where was Benni? I called her name, but there was no response. I groped in the darkness, inching my way toward the bedroom.

  “Mandy said she bought one.” More drawers slammed. “I never worried—wait, bedroom. She put it in the nightstand.”

  Another bump.
“Ow! My knee.“

  I called out again for Benni, but there was no response.

  The sounds of running footsteps came from the landing outside.

  “Benni!” I hissed.

  The front door burst open. A pair of flashlights lit up the room. A blaze of white light caught me full on. It was like looking directly at the sun, and I was temporarily blinded. What kind of rescue worker acted so callously? Looking aside helped, but everything was a conglomeration of moving stars and glowing orbs. I swayed from side-to-side, determined to not lose my balance.

  “Nobody move.”

  I gasped. Good God, no. We guessed wrong. I raised my hand to shield my eyes and averted my gaze. Even so, the intensity of the glare forced me to squint. A shape—maybe a man—moved in my peripheral vision. Penny stood at the dining table propping herself up on one leg. Right, her knee.

  The voice behind the torch barked again. I didn’t need to see a face. Those harsh tones were seared into my memory. It was Frank Alvarez. A second beam hopscotched around the room, into the kitchen, and then returned.

  “Ain’t nobody else here, boss.” It was a man. Gruff. Pidgin accent. Very familiar.

  “Check the bedroom, Kenji.” Alvarez barked.

  Silently, Kenji’s shaft of light disappeared into the bedroom. I held my breath as light reflections bounced off the walls. An eternity later, he returned. “Window’s open. She musta got away.”

  The mini sun shining in my face moved closer, forcing me to squeeze my eyes shut. Rough fingers seized my jaw. “Where is she?” Alvarez growled.

  “I don’t know.” A slow, angry fire burned in my stomach as I glared past the light to where the voice came from. Thank goodness Benni followed my instructions about running. No matter what these two did to me, at least she’d be safe.

  A violent blast of wind blew the front door open; it struck against the wall with a heavy thud, then seesawed on its hinges—drifting open and closed as gusts blew through the opening. Alvarez pulled his flashlight away from my face.