by Dylan Keefer
Ted looked trapped. Micah couldn’t see the faces behind the masks, but he bet that they felt the same way. He stood up slowly.
“Hey, let’s calm down here,” he said.
“Sit down,” Number one said to him. “You don’t want to be in the line of fire. Cause the banker has gotten on my last nerve.”
“Just let me say something,” Micah said. “I—I’m a cop.”
Number four pointed his gun at Micah now, and the barrel of it seemed gigantic with vulnerable. "It's my gun. Let me fix this." Micah kept his hands visible, and his eyes unwavering to number one. "Ted put down the gun."
The banker gasped. “You’re out of your mind!”
“Put the gun down! Let the girl go!”
“I do that, and they kill me. They kill us both.”
“They won’t. Because they are here for something, and they haven’t gotten it yet. What they are here for is not your life.”
“I’m not letting her go. They need to put their….” Micah turned to Ted.
"We don't know the story, and we can't act on rash judgments. We've got to trust that the police can handle it. Just do us all a favor and shut the hell up."
Ted’s eyes were full of fury and fear. He looked back and forth from Micah to the gunmen. Finally, he slowly released his grip on the girl. She glanced at Micah, and for the first time, he saw her eyes. Dear God, she’s just a kid. There’s hurt there. Number three quickly moved away from the banker, and Micah slowly took the gun from him, too.
“Hold on there,” Number one cautioned. Micah put the safety back on the gun, took a step forward, and offered it to the man.
“Just let the girl go, and we will go back to sitting here patiently.”
“He’s bluffing,” Number four said. Micah stood completely still, hoping that he was right about these men. Number one took several slow steps and grabbed the gun. Micah released it. They stood there for a moment before number one said, “Let the girl go.”
Number two let her go trembling back to her spot with her mother. Micah nodded to number one and sat back down. Eli leaned over to him once everything had calmed a bit.
“Not sure if that was the smartest thing or the dumbest, but…”
"But," Micah interrupted, "I answered your question. None of them have to die. The one who is innocent and the one who is guilty can both live. Therefore, the one who loves without failure and the one who falls in love can both live as well."
Eli stared at him silently. Micah knew that he had won that round.
Chapter Five
“She was staying here? Right here?”
Raine raised an eyebrow. Rafael had basically hid out in the worst place possible hoping that no one would find him. Palila had chosen a place a little different. A number of kids played in the yard in front of the building. They were all under the age of ten and looked to not have a care in the world. The house wasn’t a palace, but it was nice and well-kept. It looked like it had been built decades around and been updated on several occasions.
“What is this place?”
“A foster home,” Rafael said as the three of them stood on the sidewalk. “Palila grew up in it, and she never left. She said that the kids she grew up with were the reason that she joined the military and wanted to become a medic. A lot of the kids lost parents who were in active duty or because of something that happened to a parent who was married to someone in the military. She wanted to help soldiers overcome adversities so that they could be there for their family. Actually, she just wanted to help people period.”
"You know how she ended up here?" Tai asked. "Her dad was killed overseas, and her mom died of cancer."
Raine sighed. Things were starting to make sense now. The question was how did she die. When she took the research, what happened next and how did it get back into Edison and Painter's hands?
“So, she lived in the house?” Raine asked. Rafael shook his head.
“In a trailer in the back.” He pointed to them. “You guys start to head around, and I’m going to tell Mrs. Pau what’s going on. She’s the foster mom, and she’s been pretty paranoid since—well—since it happened.”
Rafael jogged up to the door, and they started to walk around the house. Sure enough, there was a trailer. It looked somewhat nice as well as far as trailers go. The outside was a dingy, off-white, but it was also spotless. The windows were blocked with curtains, and a small Honda Accord sat off to the side.
The door was unlocked, and Raine stepped into the cleanest area, she had ever seen. Palila had been in medicine, but what Raine had expected to see in the trailer wasn't what she saw. There was a small living room with a huge map plastered to the wall with small magnetic strips to pinpoint certain places that Raine assumed, she had traveled to or wanted to travel to. There was a small, blue couch with a colorful blanket draped over it. The end table in front of it held a single picture of a man and woman. It was old.
“Her parents?” Tai asked picking it up. Raine nodded.
The kitchen was spotless. Only one dish lay in the sink, and it looked to have last held cereal. Throughout the rest of the house were pictures of her and the kids or pictures of her and other soldiers. She had a lot of them. She was not only proud of her work, but she was proud of the people that she helped.
The front door opened, and Rafael entered the trailer. “Did you see the room yet? Mrs. Pau said that the police combed through it, but it’s pretty much the same as it was when she was found.”
“How was she killed?” Raine asked as she walked back through the small hallway towards the bedroom.
“Strangled.”
The room was a mess. The bed was broken and sunk to the ground. A small bookshelf had been turned over, and books were scattered everywhere. There were a few papers on the floor, but none of them looked like anything scientific. Just some financial papers and banking information. Raine put her hands on her hips. The trailer wasn't that big. There was no way she would have brought the stuff back here and tried to hide it.
“Rafael,” Raine asked. “Do you know who found her?”
He shook his head. “I didn’t ask a lot of questions when I found out. A lot happened. I shouldn’t even be out here like this.”
“Tai, can you get a copy of the medical examiner’s report on her. Like ASAP?” Tai nodded and waddled out of the trailer. Raine sighed. A young medical officer is working on a serum to help with PTSD and comes across something that destroys tumors. She wants to use it to help a friend but is told she had to give it up to save another. She is told that it is a virus that could be used for evil, but she just needed enough to save a woman's life.
She had already put together that whoever was asking for the serum in that bank was associated with Palila’s friend’s mom or was actually her friend come to collect on the serum. If they knew that Painter was a part of this, then Palila must have told them.
“So why take hostages unless they knew she was dead and knew Painter had the serum?” She thought the last part aloud.
Raine turned around in the room. Suddenly, her eyes widened. Rafael stared at her strangely.
“You’ve got this weird looking in your eyes. Did you figure something out?”
“Maybe,” Raine said leaving the bedroom. “Maybe.”
Tai gave her a funny look from his truck as she was on the phone and his computer at the same time. Rafael followed closely behind her as she walked directly to the house in front.
“Wait, what are you doing?” Rafael asked jogging to stay in front of her. “Mrs. Pau doesn’t like people just walking into her house.”
“She’s going to love me.” Raine kept walking and two the porch steps two at a time. She knocked on the door loudly and waited with Rafael glaring at her.
Mrs. Pau was a short, stout woman with long dark hair and native Hawaiian features. She looked at Raine, and then Rafael.
“Whut chu want?” The question was asked with suspicion, and Raine gave her a sympathetic smile.
<
br /> "Mrs. Pau, my name is Raine, and I'm just getting to know Palila. I'm so sorry for your loss." Mrs. Pau nodded. "She loved these kids, didn't she?"
"Dey love her. She stayed up with them when they sick. She always brings dem gifts. She like dey big sista."
“So Palila dedicated her life to the military and these kids. No men in her life?”
Mrs. Pau smirked. “Palila did not like men. Men liked her. She neva bring dem around. Only one.”
“What was his name?”
"Bryce. She talked bout him like dey wuz best fraands? I tink he liked her, but she neva let it go far. Why you askin'?"
“Because I think that Bryce is in trouble, and he doesn’t have to be,” Raine sighed. “One more thing, Mrs. Pau. Who found the body?”
Mrs. Pau looked down at the ground. “I did. Glad it not one a da kids. She ain’t come to break fuss, and I saw dat her car wuz by da trailer. I ain’t see it in da driveway like usual.”
“Thank you, Mrs. Pau. You have helped beyond what I could have asked for, and thank you for what you do for these kids.”
She gave Mrs. Pau a hug and ushered Rafael out. “What’s going on?” He asked confused.
“I’ve figured it out,” Raine said. She jogged over to the truck where Tai was just finishing up a phone call.
“Eh, so I got da info from the medical examiner,” Tai said. “She was strangled. Dey think dat it was by a strap or a belt.”
“They’re right. It was from a belt,” Raine said. “I noticed something when we pulled up. Everything is clean. Mrs. Pau raises these kids to keep things nice and tidy. She raised Palila that way. Palila is the epitome of nice and tidy. Her trailer proves that. So, why would she park her car on the grass behind the house?”
“She wouldn’t,” Rafael said.
“You’re right,” Raine pointed to the grass. “If that were a habit of hers, the grass would be worn from all of the times that she drove on it. She didn’t park her car by the trailer.” “Wait,” Tai frowned. “You saying someone moved da car der?”
“Someone who knew that she lived in the trailer. Someone who strangled her and killed her but not in her trailer. If someone had come to the trailer to kill her, there would have been more damage to the front of the trailer. If there was a struggle enough to break the bed and turnover a bookcase, there would have been a struggle near the door. Tai, you said the report says she was strangled with a belt. Could it have been a seat belt?”
Tai looked over the documents that were faxed over on his screen. “Damn. I tink it could of.”
Rafael held up his hands. “Wait. So someone strangled her in her car and then drove her body to her place and messed up her bedroom and left her there? Why?”
“ I have my theory, but I don’t have time to share it,” Raine looked at her watch. “I need a moment alone.”
She walked down the sidewalk several yards leaving the two of them to go back to the trailer and car. Raine took out her phone and dialed the recent number.
“What.”
“Hello, again. This is Dr. Michelson and…”
“Do you have the serum?”
“I don’t,” Raine said softly. She heard the man began to gear up; so, she spoke again quickly.
“I need to talk to Bryce.”
There was a pause. Then, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“I know that Bryce is there. Put him on the phone, and I’ll tell you where the serum is.”
“You just said you didn’t have it.”
Raine kicked at the ground with her toe. “I don’t. Didn’t say I didn’t know where it was though.”
There was a pause on the phone.
Bryce looked at his father. The man pulled the receiver away from his ear and looked at him.
“She wants to talk to you.” Bryce raised an eyebrow. Why him? He stared at the phone for a moment. “C’mon, she said she knows where the serum is.”
Bryce took the phone and placed it to his ear. “What do you want?”
“I want you to tell me about what happened when you last went to Palila’s trailer, Bryce. What happened?”
Bryce took a sip of his drink while he waited at the stop light. He wasn’t a huge fan of soda, but he was exhausted. Well, beyond exhausted. The flight from Hawaii had been so last minute that he hadn’t had the time to prepare for it. The day before he had spent at the hospital, running errands, meetings with his command, and the securing the flight. Palila had called him late in the day.
“What happened!” Bryce had answered immediately after seeing her name pop up on the caller ID. “I waited for you at the airport a couple of days ago. I tried calling you. I tried texting and emailing you.”
“I’m sorry, Bryce,” Palila said. “There’s been a setback.”
Bryce felt his heart almost stop. There couldn’t be any setbacks. This was the only hope they had for his mother right now. “What do you mean?”
“They want the serum. Our superiors, Commander Painter and Colonel Edison. They want to take everything.”
“This is my mom’s only hope right now, Pae! You said you could get us something.” “And I can! I promise. I just need you to get here.” Bryce groaned. “I have to have you come—I—I’m not safe right now.”
“Why?”
“Yesterday I found out one of the reasons why they want the serum. Commander Painter’s son has cancer. Colonel Edison told me that he was going to take over the research. He’s already got a name for it and everything. They want to use it on the boy.”
“And so, they can experiment on him and not let my mom use it. Her life is not worth it?”
“I want to help both your mom and his son.”
“How? They are taking all of the work you did!”
“But they don’t have it yet,” Palila said with a smirk in her voice. “I have all of the pieces. I just need to put them together. And because they’ll know I have it soon, I need you to come and get it.”
That was where he was right now. The light turned green, and Bryce turned onto Palila's street. He had been over to her house so many times before that he knew it like the back of his hand. Her car wasn't there though. At least, that's what it seemed like at first. He waited for a moment in the driveway with his lights off. It was late, and he didn't want to take a chance in waking the children in the house or Mrs. Pau. When she didn't answer his text or his call, Bryce decided to get out and walk around the backside of the house to the trailer where Palila lived. That's when he saw the car. Strange, he thought, she never parks in the back. Palila was neat and clean in every way. Her clothes were color coordinated. Her car was spotless on the inside. It wasn’t like she had to try hard. It was in her nature to have things neat and proper, but she wasn’t OCD or anal about it. She would never park on the grass though much less drive on it. Bryce knocked on the door and realized that it was open when the door moved.
“Hey, Pae,” he called out softly. “It’s Bryce.” There was no answer. Her trailer was just like she always left it. Immaculate. Bryce stepped inside and started to look around. The light was on in her room.
"Palila, are you in here?" Still no answer. Car there. Lights on. Bryce moved quickly to the back and into the room where his feet stopped abruptly. She was laying on the bed with her feet hanging off the bed. Her eyes were open. Her body was completely limp. Her throat had a deep laceration from where she had been strangled to death. Bryce stood in the doorway and stared for a moment. His body was confused. His mind was a mess of jumbled thoughts. She was dead. Her fear of something dangerous was legitimized at this moment.
“I wanted to hold her,” he told Raine as tears came to his eyes. “She was my friend, and—she cared about people so much.”
Raine stood outside not far from the house. She swallowed as he talked. “I’m sorry that you witnessed that, Bryce.”
“I was so angry. The whole room was a mess, and I thought, maybe—maybe there was something still around that would help me kno
w her killer or what happened. I don’t know how it was missed by whoever killed her, but I saw that her left hand was clenched into a fist, and a little piece of paper stuck out between two fingers. I pried it open and found a piece of paper. A bank deposit slip that had writing on it that just said ‘R33PM.”
“And you knew that he was the one that was behind this?” Raine said. She closed her eyes. “And you looked at that statement, and something in your mind clicked. You knew that in order to get that serum, something serious had to happen. Something had to happen to get Painter and Edison to release that serum to you.”
“Sounds like you know it all,” Bryce said. “And the serum?”
“Bryce, I need you to do me a favor before I tell you.”
Micah stood up slowly when Number two walked up to him and handed him the phone. He watched the gunman calmly as he put the receiver to his ear.
“Hello?” “Oh my god, Micah.” Micah felt his heart start to pound when he heard Raine’s voice. “Tell me you’re okay. You aren’t hurt.”
“I’m—I’m fine. I’m okay. What—where are you?” “There is so much we need to talk about, and I’m—It can wait. Micah,” she said with sadness in her voice, “these men are in a tough situation. I know what they’ve done, but it’s bigger than that. They’re trying to save their mother’s life.”
Micah listened to the quick description that Raine gave, and everything was clear. Bryce looked on with a nervous stare as did the others in the bank. Micah put down the phone after a minute and cleared his throat.
“Ted,” he said to the banker. Ted stood up quickly. “There is a bank deposit box for Palila Dahni that you’re going to help them get access, too.”
“All of our customer deposit boxes are password protected,” Ted said. “It requires a password to be keyed into the lock.”
Micah looked at Bryce. "It's R33PM. Palila put the serum for you in there. She didn't think it was safe for her to have it on her, and so she came here and deposited it in her deposit box. When she left the bank and got into her car, she had written the password on the deposit slip because she was going to meet and give it to you, but she didn't get the chance."
