Distant Echoes

by Colleen Coble

  “It was my fault. We were arguing and I looked away from the road. I missed a curve. I lived. She died carrying my son. I killed two people that day.”

  “It was an accident.”

  “It didn’t make them less dead.”

  “You need to forgive yourself.”

  “Actually, I have, but it doesn’t make what I did any less wrong.”

  Kaia had had all she could take. She rose. “I think I’ll let you take the first watch and try to catch a little nap.”

  Nineteen

  It didn’t work. Jesse Matthews just took leave and is patrolling the water on his own time with the dolphin lady. If anything, they’ll be more of a nuisance.”

  The man looked up from the papers on his desk. “He can’t be allowed to stop our strike. Not now. We’re too close.” He tapped his teeth with the pencil he held in his hand. He needed leverage. His thoughts lingered on the kid. He couldn’t do that, could he? He sifted through the emotions clouding his thoughts: regret, pity, hatred. His hate was strongest. Just like a butterfly had to fight to emerge from its cocoon, so he had to struggle through emotions that would paralyze a weaker man.

  He glanced up and grabbed his can of Red Bull. “We might need a hostage to keep him in line. I hadn’t thought to do this yet, but maybe it’s time. Get his niece.”

  His assistant nodded and left. Best not to think about it. Just do it.

  Jesse’s eyelids were heavy. He fought to stay awake. Glancing at the luminous dial on his watch, he realized he should awaken Bane or Kaia and let one of them take over. It was nearly 2 a.m. and they’d both been sleeping over four hours.

  He knew Kaia needed her sleep. If he could just stay awake, he’d let her sleep the whole night through. Maybe Bane could take over for an hour or so.

  But it was so pleasant to sit here and watch the moon on the water. The sound of the surf was soothing as it ran toward shore like a playful sea lion. He’d get one of them to relieve him soon. But not yet. His eyes did a slow blink. He’d close his eyes for just a minute. The boat would troll along at this slow speed for a long time before it ran aground on the rocky shore. Jesse closed his eyes.

  He awoke with a start and sat up. He dug his nails into his hand, and the pain sharpened his senses. He glanced around to get his bearings and realized he couldn’t have slept more than fifteen minutes. What had awakened him?

  He listened, but all he heard was the throb of the engines and sound of waves against rock and sand. Then the noise that had been out of kilter came again. A soft thump. It came from below. Maybe one of the others had awakened.

  But it didn’t feel right. The sound was stealthy, but he told himself it was because whoever it was didn’t want to wake up the rest of the sleeping passengers. He listened, but the noise didn’t come again. His gaze swept the horizon, then he frowned and squinted. Was that a small boat moored about twenty-five feet away?

  He grabbed the night goggles beside him and adjusted them to his eyes. The boat sprang into focus. A man sat hunched in the bow of the boat. He seemed to be looking right back at Jesse. That couldn’t be good.

  He put down the goggles and started to rise when something came crashing down on the back of his head. Falling heavily forward, his face smashed into the steering wheel. Warm blood gushed from his nose, and the coppery taste filled his mouth. Splatters of blood sprayed the dash in front of him. He reached out and grabbed the goggles again, using them as a shield against his bigger, heavier attacker.

  He grappled with the man in the darkness before being struck again. Heidi and Kaia were sleeping below deck, he thought. He had to save them. He vainly tried to force back the darkness that rolled over him like a crashing breaker.

  Kaia awakened in the darkness. She rolled over and glanced at the dim glow of the alarm clock. Jesse should have come to get her by now. He was going to get a piece of her mind. Reaching out her hand, she felt for Heidi’s warm presence but felt nothing but empty bed. She raised her head and saw a dark shadow pass by the door. The moonlight illuminated the room enough to see that it was a man. Not Bane or Jesse though. The guy was too bulky.

  He was carrying Heidi up the galley ladder.

  Galvanized into action, Kaia sprang from the bed. “You there. Put her down!” She ran forward, tripping over her slippers lying on the floor. “Bane, Jesse, stop him!” The cry was hard to force out of her tight throat.

  Heidi murmured, and Kaia felt a sense of rising horror at the scent of chloroform that drifted toward her. The man had drugged the little girl.

  The boat tilted in the waves, and Kaia staggered, nearly falling. She righted herself and barreled through the doorway. She threw herself onto the intruder’s back. He thrust an elbow into her stomach and tossed her aside like an empty clam shell. She went down hard.

  “Bane, help me!” she screamed. She could see her brother’s sleeping form on the bed. He rolled over, his mouth open. He’d been drugged too.

  She had no idea why the man had left her alert. Maybe he’d thought she would be no match for his strength even if she awakened. Was Jesse unconscious as well? It might be up to her to save Heidi.

  Kaia sprang to her feet and looked around for a weapon. The man’s bare feet were about to disappear onto the deck above her head. Nani chattered in obvious agitation. Kaia grabbed an iron skillet hanging from a hook and charged up the ladder. Shrieking like a myna, she jumped up the last rung and onto the deck.

  The man was at the railing. She raised the skillet over her head and charged again, bringing the skillet down with a loud clang onto the man’s head.

  He uttered a small sigh then toppled overboard with Heidi. “Heidi!” Kaia dove over the side. She came up, flinging water from her eyes. Where was Heidi? Then she saw the little girl floating face-down in the water.

  The dolphin surfaced beside her and got to Heidi before Kaia could. She came up under the little girl and bore her on her back to Kaia. Kaia reached out and pulled Heidi to her, flipping her over as she did. Was she breathing?

  She couldn’t tell, and she couldn’t tend to her in the water. Pulling the little girl behind her in a lifesaver’s hold, she got to the ladder. Holding Heidi against her, she tried to climb the ladder, but the weight was too much for her.

  “Help me, God!” she cried out. Panting and sobbing, she tried again, this time balancing Heidi on one shoulder. She got her foot in the first rung of the ladder and heaved straight up.

  Heidi began to slip, but Kaia grabbed her with her right hand while using her left to continue pulling them up the ladder. She finally lay gasping next to Heidi on the deck.

  She glanced toward the radio. There was no time to call for help. She rolled Heidi to her stomach and grabbed a coil of rope to put under her stomach for pressure. Pressing on the little girl’s back, she forced water out of her mouth then laid her on her back. What was the protocol for CPR for a child? For a moment she couldn’t think. Then her training came flooding back. One full breath, five compressions. She leaned over Heidi and breathed into her mouth then began the compressions. She prayed while she went through the routine. Please, Lord, let her live.

  It seemed an eternity before the little girl sputtered and coughed. She vomited seawater onto the deck, but she was breathing.

  Kaia ran her hand over the water beading Heidi’s forehead. “Heidi, can you open your eyes?”

  Moonlight and dim decking light illuminated Heidi’s face. Her lashes fluttered, then she opened her eyes. “Kaia?” she asked in a weak voice. “What happened?”

  “I’m not quite sure,” she said. “You fell overboard.” Heidi didn’t need to know the whole story unless Jesse okayed it. The little girl might suffer nightmares from the ordeal. Kaia prayed Heidi wouldn’t remember it.

  “Oh.”

  She managed a smile and pressed her palms against Heidi’s cheeks. “Nani brought you to me on her back. It was something to see.” She helped Heidi sit up.

  Heidi coughed. “I don’t feel so good.”
/>
  “I’m not surprised. Why don’t you just lie down here for a minute?” Kaia snatched a dry towel from the chair and snugged it around Heidi. “Better?”

  Heidi nodded, her small face pinched and white. “I’ll be warm in a minute.” Her eyes closed.

  Kaia left her there and went to check on Jesse. Along the way, she glanced overboard but didn’t see the man she’d hit with the skillet. In the distance, she heard a motor and saw a small craft speeding away from her boat. The guy must have survived the incident.

  She hurried to the helm and found Jesse on the floor in the dim light in the room. She choked back a shriek when she saw the blood pooled around his head. Sinking to her knees, she rolled him over. His eyes were closed, and blood matted his hair.

  She touched his face. “Jesse, can you hear me?” There was a first-aid kit in the compartment to the right of where she crouched, but she didn’t want to leave him to get it.

  He didn’t respond. Panic flared in her chest. She had to leave him for a minute. She crawled to the compartment and pulled out the first-aid kit. Opening it, she found an ampule of smelling salts. With the kit in her hand, she went back to Jesse, broke the ampule, and waved it under his nose. The acrid smell stung her nose and made her eyes water.

  Jesse gasped and his head lolled from side to side trying to escape the odor. “Smells like your cat,” he muttered weakly. His eyes opened more fully then watered from the stinging fumes of the smelling salts. He struggled to sit up.

  “Lie still; you’re hurt,” she ordered. She dug in the kit again and pulled out a pad and alcohol.

  “Ouch!” He pushed her hand away. “That hurts.”

  “Don’t be such a baby,” she told him. She dabbed at the cut. It wasn’t as nasty as she’d feared. Head wounds bled so badly. She put a butterfly bandage on the cut. That would have to do until she could get him below deck and get the blood washed out of his hair.

  His eyes snapped open in a more alert way. “Heidi!” He pulled out of Kaia’s arms and sat up.

  “She’s okay. Some guy was hauling her off though.” She told him about the chloroform and how she’d beaned the man with the frying pan.

  “This is all my fault. I fell asleep.” His shoulders slumped. “I failed her too.”

  She stood and helped him up. “We didn’t fail. Heidi is sleeping on the deck.” She led him to where his niece lay under the towel.

  They watched the rise and fall of her chest. “You’re sure she’s okay?” he asked.

  Kaia nodded. “I need to try to get Bane awake. He was drugged too.” She knelt and scooped Heidi into her arms.

  “I’ll take her,” Jesse said. He staggered as he lurched forward with his arms outstretched.

  “You’re too weak. Go first down the ladder, and I’ll hand her to you.”

  She could see the protest in his eyes, but he shrugged then did as she suggested. Kaia dropped Heidi into his waiting arms then went down the ladder into the galley. “I’ll be down to put dry pajamas on her,” she called after him.

  He nodded, and she went to try to rouse her brother. He didn’t move when she shook him, though she could see his chest move up and down. He might have to sleep it off. She tried again, but Bane was like a dead weight in the bed. She could try the smelling salts, but maybe it would be better to let him sleep.

  Jesse came back into the galley. He looked terrible with the blood black and caked in his blond hair. Like a Frankenstein monster. “She woke up enough to say she could change into dry pajamas.”

  Kaia nodded. “Let me wash that out of your hair,” she said. “I want to see your wounds in the light.”

  “My head is throbbing like this engine at full bore,” he admitted. He went to the nearest chair and sank into it. Dark circles cupped his eyes, and he was pasty under his tan.

  Kaia got out some Tylenol and gave it to him with water. He downed it and closed his eyes while she probed his hair.

  “You’ve got another cut back here,” she said.

  “He clocked me with something from behind,” he murmured, his eyes still closed.

  “I wonder why he didn’t drug you?”

  “I think he was going to, but I woke up before he had the chance.”

  Kaia cleaned the cuts she could see. She got a cloth and washed as much of the blood from his hair as she could without dunking him in the sink.

  “That will have to do for now.” She stepped back and regarded him critically. “You’re getting a little more color to your face.”

  “Your torture would make anyone red-faced,” he said. He opened his eyes and grinned.

  Kaia found herself smiling back. Before she could react, he had pulled her down onto his lap. The shock held her still.

  He put his arms around her waist and leaned his head against her neck. “Um, you smell better than chloroform any day, my little mermaid.”

  She smiled and smoothed his stiff hair. He must be concussed. “You’d better not go to sleep until we get you checked out by the doctor.”

  “I’m fine, Kaia. Even my headache is getting better.”

  He sounded better. Stronger and more like himself. But he was still holding her, and she was still liking it. She moved to free herself, and he immediately released her. She wasn’t sure what to say.

  “I’m not a shark,” he said, his grin forming like a wave. “I won’t bite. Well, except for maybe a nibble.”

  “Maybe a killer whale?” she suggested.

  “Nope. Not even a beluga. I’m your plain, ordinary, garden-variety tang. Yellow and all.” He rubbed his blond head. “I’m totally harmless.”

  “I’m not so sure about that.” Not if her racing pulse was any indication. She felt like she’d just swum across the ocean to Ni`ihau.

  “You’re way more dangerous than me,” he said. His gaze lingered on her face then sank to her lips.

  If he kept looking at her like that, she’d be back in his lap in no time. She backed away. “I should go clean up the blood on deck. You need to call someone to tell them about this kidnapping attempt.”

  His smile faded. “You’re right. I get way too distracted by you.” His smile surged back. “But it’s a welcome distraction.”

  Even more flustered, she grabbed some paper towels and went to the ladder.

  “Don’t clean that up yet,” he called after her. “We might need some evidence.”

  She rushed up the steps to get away from him. In school and later in college, she’d never had much time for guys. Her work was too important to risk messing up her plans for a man. Now she found herself questioning that decision.

  Jesse was hard-headed and opinionated, but gentle with his niece and his family and a rock in times of trouble. She found herself leaning on him and didn’t like that dependency.

  He followed her up the ladder and examined the pool of red on the deck. “I bled enough to have been the lu’au pig,” he said. He grabbed the ship-to-shore radio and called in the attack to the Coast Guard.

  “I thought you might call it in to the captain,” she said.

  “I thought about it. But I think our patrol out here is going to yield more results than trolling navy waters. Better to leave things alone with the navy for now.”

  “Captain Lawton may hear of the attack anyway.”

  “He might,” Jesse agreed. “If he does, I’ll explain it to him then. In the meantime, we have to figure out what’s going on with Heidi.”

  “Could her father be trying to get her?”

  “All he’d have to do is show up at the door and ask to see her. I wouldn’t deny him visitation rights. He wouldn’t drug everyone and try to open my skull. Me and Noah have always gotten along pretty well.”

  “Maybe he wants her all to himself. You hear about fathers stealing kids.”

  “I don’t think Noah would do that. He loves her too much.”

  “So much he left her and hasn’t called.” Kaia couldn’t keep the asperity from her voice. Maybe their similar histories were
what made her feel such a connection to the keiki.

  Jesse shook his head. “I just don’t think it’s Noah.”

  “Then who would want her?” Kaia was almost afraid to ask.

  “The fact that I have no idea scares me spitless.”

  Twenty

  Amisty curtain of rain hung over the ocean, giving it a soft, dreamy look. But the man was in no mood to appreciate the beauty. “You nitwits! I give you a perfectly simple assignment and you blow it. How hard can it be to snatch an eight-year-old?”

  “We had her. But that dolphin woman was too quick. She woke up before I had time to drug her. When she saw me with the kid, she came after me with a frying pan.” The younger man rubbed his head where a massive swelling had parted his hair.

  “And it didn’t occur to you to both go aboard?”

  “We wanted the boat ready to get out of there in a hurry.”

  “There would have been no need for hurry if you’d drugged them all!” There was no use in talking to them. They were as dumb as a piece of coral. He took a deep breath. There was still time. The test would be in two days. Even if they snatched the kid hours before the test, it would work out.

  Maybe there was some other way. He still hated to involve the kid. He looked down at his hands. No, it had to be this way. And he’d enjoy watching Matthews squirm on a hook he couldn’t get off of. The man gave a grim smile then looked back at his men. “You’d better not screw up again,” he barked. “I’ve got too much riding on this now.”

  Faye paced the floor in the living room. She’d made the first step in healing the breach with her family. Her son hadn’t thrown her off the property. She’d expected hostility, but he had been open enough to talk to her. Until he’d run away. But she still had hopes Bane would come around. She knew meeting him had been the first and easiest step in an uphill climb as steep as Na Pali.

  Her euphoria faded, and she felt tired. A dull headache began to gather at the base of her skull, and she pressed on it. Curtis was reading the morning paper, and Heidi should be here any minute so Jesse could get a little rest. It was going to be hard to keep her attention on the little girl when she wanted to go back to the cottage by the sea.