Distant Echoes

by Colleen Coble

  The night was black up here on top of the mountain. The stars hid behind clouds that had rolled in after sunset. Kim braked at the crest of a hill. With the motor still idling, he twisted in the seat and looked at Kaia. “Get out.”

  Kaia caught her breath at the man’s growl. Her skin prickled at the intent in his voice. He was going to kill her, she just knew it. Kim Aki was too big for her to overpower, but maybe she could outrun him.

  Her hand crept to the door handle. His gaze veered toward the dash as he turned the engine off. In that moment, she flung open her door and hit the pavement running. She heard Kim shout, but she didn’t look back. She turned off the road and plunged into the black gravel. A grove of koa trees beckoned her up ahead. She dared a glance back and realized Kim wasn’t in pursuit. The glare of the headlamps revealed his bulky figure by his car talking on a cell phone and smoking a pipe. His stance as he leaned against the car fender suggested he didn’t care that she’d escaped.

  Kaia reached the coolness of the grove and stopped. Panting, she glanced back toward the car again. Had he just intended to release her here anyway? If so, then why had he taken her? She’d stepped out of her car for a minute to get a closer view of the road. When she returned, he’d rushed out from behind a tree and marched her down the lane to his vehicle.

  He’d said nothing the last three hours. Kaia had to find out what was going on. She circled a large black boulder and crossed the road behind Kim. Once on the other side, she crouched behind a thicket.

  The wind was coming from the west and carried Kim’s words to her.

  “Yeah, she’s gone.” He listened a bit then swore viciously. “What do you mean, find her? It’s as black as lava out here tonight. You said to scare her and I did. What do you want her for anyway?” His stance changed as he listened. “Then take someone else. The kid would be an easier target. That will keep Mano in line just as well. He’s a soft touch. I don’t know why we ever trusted him.”

  Kaia froze. Heidi! Jesse was undoubtedly looking for Kaia by now. Where would he have left Heidi? Tutu kane’s maybe? She wished she had her cell phone, but it was in her purse back at her car. She had to get to a phone and contact Jesse before it was too late.

  She backed away from Kim’s car. He had taken her high onto Waimea Mountain, and the road down would be long. There were no houses along the way.

  Please, Lord, send help. Her only hope was if a passerby saw her. She knew it wasn’t likely at this hour. Few people drove up the dark canyon at night. She recognized the growl of an engine behind her and ducked behind a boulder until Kim drove past. His meaty arm hung out the window, and he crooned a Hawaiian tune with the radio.

  When the sound of his car died in the distance, she stepped back onto the road and continued to walk. The moon came and went behind clouds, and the night grew darker. It was hard to keep from wandering off the road, but she knew she had to stay alert or she was liable to go over the edge.

  She began to shiver as the air cooled. Her mu´umu´u offered little warmth. She shook her hair free from the French braid and spread it over her shoulders and down her back. It offered a welcome bit of coverage.

  Her watch said it was after eleven. Jesse would be frantic, but he’d have no idea where to look for her. Jesse. Bane had said she had an unforgiving spirit. She didn’t want to be like that. She would start by releasing her anger against Jesse for taking her away from her research.

  “I forgive Jesse, Lord.” She waited. Maybe she felt a little different—lighter. She wanted to say she forgave her mother, but the words still stuck in her throat.

  She rounded a curve and caught a glimpse of a flicker of light down a narrow, nearly hidden lane. Was that a house down there?

  She stopped on the road and considered her options. The light was possibly only a security light for a park service building. She couldn’t remember ever going down this lane so she had no idea what lay at the end. Going that way could delay her at least a half an hour, time that would increase Heidi’s risk. On the other hand, if there was access to a phone this way, she could call for help at least an hour sooner than if she walked down the road.

  Kaia dithered. She wanted to sit in the middle of the road and cry. What should I do, Lord? Almost without considering it, she turned into the lane at an inner urging. All she could do was step out on faith and trust that God was the one leading her down this path.

  The moon came out again and illuminated her way. She saw a dark shadow hidden in a pull-off. Squinting, she realized it was a vehicle. Someone had to be back here. The Jeep looked familiar, and she glanced inside. It was Jesse’s Jeep. She closed her eyes. Mahalo, Jesus.

  But where was he? A rising sense of urgency propelled her back to the road. She began to run down the cinder driveway. “Jesse!” she called. The rising wind snatched her cry and threw it behind her.

  She paused to catch her breath. Had Jesse run into Kim and the rest of the Pele Hawai’i thugs? Maybe he was hurt or in danger somewhere in the wilderness out here. She wouldn’t know where to look for him. All she could do was to keep trudging down this narrow track.

  She veered back to the ditch and kept walking. The light grew larger, and she realized it was a house. No, not just a house, but a mansion. The thing towered high in the moonlight, but only a single light blazed from a downstairs window.

  Kaia stopped and listened. She thought she’d heard something. Her straining ears caught nothing but her own ragged breath. Though she wanted to call out for Jesse again, some sense warned her to keep quiet. Something about the house deterred her from marching to the front door and knocking. She’d never realized a place this grand was here, and she had to wonder who would have had the money or inclination to build something this fabulous so far off the beaten path.

  Nahele Aki’s face flashed through her mind, and she wondered if this could be his place. It looked secure enough to be a compound of some sort. A small structure stood guard at the driveway up to the house, and a heavy iron gate barred the way. She went back toward the Jeep. Maybe Jesse had left his keys in there. If not, she could honk the horn and alert them.

  The house was dark and silent. “I’ll go first.” Jesse crawled under the fence. Bane and Mano followed him. They approached the back of the house where no light shone from the windows.

  “I’m not sure anyone is here,” Bane whispered.

  “Where else would they have taken her?” Jesse asked.

  “It could be a trap,” Mano said. “Pele Hawai´i never does what you expect.”

  “I’m going to look in the window.” Jesse stepped into the yard, and instantly a flood of light illuminated the backyard from a motion-sensor security light.

  He ducked to the ground. Kaia’s brothers lunged for the shadows. No alarm seemed to be raised, so after a few minutes Jesse raised his head and got to his hands and knees.

  “We’re wasting time. I don’t think anyone is here. Let’s look for Kaia and get out of here.” He couldn’t let himself think about what she might be going through or fear would paralyze him.

  He led the way toward the house. The soft grass underfoot was soft and springy. A twig snapped, and he froze. “Did you hear that?”

  “It was me,” Bane said.

  Jesse nodded and went forward again. He peered in the window but saw no one. The house had that empty feel. He was sure Kaia wasn’t there. “Let’s go,” he said.

  He was nearly halfway to the front yard when he heard a low growl. He stopped. “Was that you too, Bane?”

  Before the men could react, three dobermans came running toward them.

  “Run!” Jesse turned and shoved Bane ahead of him. They raced back the way they’d come, toward the house. Bane leaped for the low overhang of the porch and heaved himself up. Mano did the same, swinging easily onto the roof. Jesse wasn’t sure he was going to make it. One dog was snapping at his heels as he reached up and caught Bane’s hand.

  The dog’s teeth fastened on the cuff of Jesse’s jeans, and
he nearly fell, but Bane and Mano jerked him to safety. He scrabbled back from the ledge and looked down on the three dogs. They were barking and practically foaming at the mouth.

  “Now what?” Mano asked.

  “We’ve got to get out of here.”

  “How? Those dogs will stand guard all night if necessary.”

  “Why did they just now come out?” Jesse asked. It seemed suspicious to him. He stared into the darkness in the direction the dogs had come. “I have to wonder if someone is out there laughing at us.”

  “The door is open on the shed,” Bane said. “It was closed earlier.”

  Jesse balanced on the steep roof and walked to the side of the house. He thought about shouting at whoever was out there but decided not to give the man any more thrills. If only he could get to his Jeep. The cat food Kaia had purchased for Hiwa was in the back. Maybe they could distract the dogs with the food long enough to get out of here.

  “I’m going to go over the roof to the front yard,” he told the other men. “Keep these guys occupied.”

  Moving carefully, he climbed the tall house to the peak then half slid, half walked down the other side. He could hear Bane and Mano jeering and talking to the dogs, but one had followed him around the house in spite of the men’s attempts. It stood near the front porch with teeth bared and growling as if it would like to eat him.

  As he reached the porch, he heard his Jeep horn begin to blare. It gave three short blasts then a long one. A slight figure came from behind the rocks where the Jeep was hidden. He recognized Kaia when he saw the flowing black hair. Relief swept through him. She was all right.

  He stood and waved. “Kaia!”

  She heard him and her head came up. She started toward him.

  “Get the cat food from the Jeep,” he shouted.

  She hesitated then went back to the SUV. She rummaged in the Jeep then came toward him carrying some cans.

  “You need to distract the dog,” he called. “But be careful, he’s mean.” He heard the sound of the top popping on the can.

  “Oh, there’s my sweet boy,” she crooned to the dog. She began to chant a soothing Hawaiian mele. It must have been pleasant to the dog, because it quit growling and went to stand by the fence.

  Kaia walked along the outside of the fence to the far corner. The dog followed, whining now. “What a good boy you are,” she said softly, a placating tone to her voice.

  When the dog was as far away as possible, he dropped from the porch and ran for the fence. The dog didn’t seem to notice as it wolfed down food from the tin Kaia held in her hand. Brave woman. He wouldn’t have gotten that close to the animal.

  Jesse reached the fence and opened the gate. He stepped through then shut it behind him. How would they get her brothers out? He hurried to Kaia. “Can you go around back and do the same with the two dogs back there? Your brothers are trapped on the back porch.”

  “I’ll need more food.” The dog lifted its head and growled at Jesse. Kaia snatched her hand back as the dog lunged. “He doesn’t like you. You’d better get out of here.”

  He left her there and hurried to the SUV for more cat food. He grabbed four cans and ran along the fence row to the far back corner. “Get to the front,” he called to Bane and Mano. “Kaia is there with the other dog. I’ll distract these two.” He raised his voice louder and called to the dogs. “Hey, pooches, look what I have for you.” He began to bang on the iron fence, and the dogs raced toward him. He pulled off the tops of two cans and dug out the insides with nervous fingers. Tossing it to the dogs, he watched Kaia’s brothers hurry over the rooftop.

  He fed the dogs the food as slowly as he could until he heard Mano call to him from the front yard. Wiping his messy fingers on his jeans, he tossed the cans over the fence and raced back to join the rest.

  Kaia was running to meet him. “We’ve got to get to town! They’re after Heidi!”

  Twenty-five

  Faye woke with a start, drenched in perspiration and shaking with regret. In her dream, her children were swimming. Their laughter changed to shrieks of fear as sharks’ dorsal fins sliced through the blue water from every direction. Kaia began to scream her mother’s name, but Faye had turned and walked away, left her, just like she’d done in real life.

  She pressed her fingers into her eye sockets. Her head felt heavy and lethargic. She reached out to touch Curtis but found only cold, empty sheets. The green glow of the clock said it was nearly eleven thirty. Where could he be?

  She slipped out of the bed and padded to the door. Stepping into the hallway, she peered downstairs, but there were no lights on. She moved into the hall and nearly fell over a figure lying at her feet.

  “Curtis?” She dropped to the floor and touched him. He groaned as she rolled him to his back, and his eyes fluttered. A trickle of blood ran from a cut on his forehead. Just then, she heard a child’s voice from downstairs.

  “Let go of me! I want my mommy. Mommy!” Heidi’s wail ended with a sob as a man’s voice answered her roughly. It didn’t sound like Jesse.

  The keiki’ s wail had been in her dream. Faye shot to her feet. She glanced down at Curtis, her hand to her mouth. He needed her, but so did Heidi. Fear held her immobile. She’d never in her life been able to face down danger.

  She shrank back against the wall then sank to the soft carpet. Crawling toward her bedroom, she thought she could hide in the closet. For God has not given us a spirit of fear but of power and a sound mind. The words thundered in her head. She stopped and looked down the stairway. Tears leaked from her eyes. She was such a coward. Heidi could be in real danger.

  She tried to tell herself it was Jesse who’d come for his niece, but she knew the truth. Someone bad had taken the keiki, and only Faye could stop him. She rose on trembling legs and prayed for God to help her. Then she turned and hurtled down the stairs.

  At the bottom of the steps, she stopped and listened. Heidi’s sobs seemed to be coming from the kitchen. Faye heard the back door open. On bare feet, she ran toward the sound. When she entered the kitchen, she saw a tall, blond man carrying Heidi. The little girl was pummeling him with her small fists.

  “Let me go. I want my mommy!” Heidi howled again.

  Faye acted on instinct. She grabbed up the bowl of fruit on the table and brought it down on the man’s head. It bounced off his skull and rained apples, bananas, and mangoes onto the floor. The man paused and turned his head to look at her. She quailed at the fierce glare and hesitated. Then Heidi screamed again, and Faye was galvanized into action. She snatched at Heidi and must have caught the man off guard, because she managed to pull the keiki from his hands.

  Heidi burrowed into Faye’s arms. Her wet face soaked the neck of Faye’s nightgown. “I’ve got you,” Faye crooned.

  The man grabbed Faye’s arm. “Fine, you can come along too,” he growled. He propelled her out the door.

  She backpedaled, trying to shake loose his grip. Opening her mouth, she gathered her breath to scream, but he clamped a hand that smelled of—was it cabbage? She bit him.

  He swore and clamped his hand around her throat. “Do that again and you and the kid are dead. Got it?”

  Her eyes wide, she nodded. She couldn’t breathe, couldn’t swal- low. The pressure on her throat eased, and she gulped in the sweet night air. He thrust her toward a dark-colored sedan. Reaching the car, he opened the back door and pushed her and Heidi inside.

  A grate separated them from the front seat. The door shut then locked. Faye couldn’t find a way to release the lock. She tugged on the handle but the door refused to open. There was no way to roll the window down either. This was all her fault. She should have put Heidi down and told her to run.

  And her husband was bleeding in the upstairs hallway. She could only pray he would be all right. He must have surprised the man taking Heidi. They never should have gone to bed, but Curtis had been sure things would be fine. He’d activated the security system and taken his pistol into the bedroom with the
m. All those precautions hadn’t been enough.

  Faye’s mouth was dry, and she cuddled Heidi close. She had to protect her somehow, even though she’d failed at all those things with her own children. All her life she’d run from problems. Tonight that would stop. She was going to have to reach deep inside and find what small, tattered courage she possessed to stand up to whoever was behind this.

  Heidi stirred and lifted her damp face. “I want to go home,” she whispered. “Where’s Uncle Jesse? And the man hit Mr. Curtis. You need to help him.”

  “I know. I saw.” Faye smoothed the hair back from Heidi’s face. “Mr. Curtis was moving around when I saw him. He’ll be all right.” She said the words as much to reassure herself as the keiki.

  The car shifted as the man got in. Faye stared at the back of his head where a small swirl of hair crested the top of his skull. “What do you want with us?” she asked.

  The man didn’t answer as he rolled the window down a crack to let in some air. His dark eyes met Faye’s in the rearview mirror, and she shuddered at the implacable expression in them. She began to shake deep inside, though she tried to hide her fear from Heidi.

  Heidi crawled into her lap, and Faye rocked and crooned to her as if she were only three instead of eight. Heidi buried her face against Faye. Faye strained to see through the darkness, hoping for someone walking a dog or jogging along the street so she could pound on the window and scream for help, but there was no one around. Though nightlife wasn’t totally unknown on this side of the island, it wasn’t common either. The golden glow from streetlights revealed a sleeping town, then the car left the city limits and headed into the dark night.

  Jesse wrenched the steering wheel, and the tires screamed around a tight curve. He knew he was driving too fast, but he kept his foot glued to the accelerator.

  “No answer at the house,” Kaia said, clicking off the cell phone.