Moon over Maalaea Bay

by H. L. Wegley

  “Swim to shore, yes. But perhaps not like you did. Thanks, Peterson. Please let us know if you find out more.”

  Lee ended the call and cupped Jennifer’s cheek. “I’m going to call Granddad and ask him to turn in the boat and drive down to meet us here. In the meantime, we can run the beach trail and see if Katie swims ashore near us. But I’ve got a feeling she would swim further south, maybe towards the Makena Beach Resort.”

  “You mean because of the way the yacht was turned when she escaped?”

  “Exactly. When the chaos broke out on the yacht, just before the shooting and explosions, the yacht’s port side was facing the southwest. If she looked towards shore, she would have been looking at Makena Point, near the Makena Beach Resort.”

  Jennifer’s dark eyebrows nearly touched.

  Her intense frown, after looking so hopeful, got his attention. “What is it? Jenn, you need to tell me what you’re thinking.”

  She met his gaze. “If James escaped, it would have been near the same time as Katie. He probably would swim towards the Makena Beach Resort, too. He would need a car to get to the airport and a plane to leave the island.”

  “Are you thinking he might also need a hostage?”

  Jennifer nodded. “Lee, we can’t let that man take Katie again. Call Granddad and tell him to meet us out at the street. We need to get to Makena Point now.”

  34

  The urge to breathe mushroomed out of control. Katie’s head broke the surface. The bright sun blinded her. Her chest heaved spasmodically as she tried to pay a seemingly insurmountable oxygen debt.

  She would be here for several seconds recovering, so she swiveled in the water and looked back at the yacht. Flames ravaged the entire ship. Could anyone on it still be alive? What had happened?

  One thing was clear. The timing of her escape had been impeccable. Only an all-knowing God who loved her could orchestrate an escape so precise amid total chaos and pulse-pounding panic. Her trust for the One who loved her grew to new heights.

  With the entire yacht burning, no one would be shooting at her now. Even if someone were alive on the yacht, their chief concern would be remaining so.

  Still, no sense taking unnecessary risks. She had come too far. Katie took three more deep breaths and submerged, swimming underwater towards the V-shaped resort beside a hill that resembled a miniature volcano.

  Had it been fifteen minutes or an hour? Katie had no idea as she stumbled up the beach towards the resort. Small waves slapped at her backside. One reached high enough to slap the bruises on her back.

  The pain reminded her of her incredible escape. She had been shot by an assault rifle and had survived. She couldn’t wait to tell Granddad, to see his face. He would be horrified, but then his smile, one that could span the width of his entire face, would replace his wide eyes. Like her, he would give thanks to the God he had recently begun to trust.

  The resort lay a hundred yards up the hill. Numerous concrete walkways traversed the grassy grounds surrounding the building. She took the one that led most directly to an entry point.

  The sidewalk hurt her bare feet. Katie stepped to the side of the rough concrete and ran on the grass. To her right someone was doing exactly what she was, jogging on the grass. She looked more closely and stopped, frozen by fear.

  She was staring at James.

  He returned her stare.

  Somehow he had escaped, probably leaving his men to die. But he wouldn’t want her to testify to that or to a dozen other atrocities she could attribute to the man.

  Katie looked ahead to the entrance nearest her. It was seventy or eighty yards away. She sprinted towards it with all the speed her strong legs could generate.

  Halfway to the building, she glanced back. James was a tenderfoot, at least that’s what his gait told her. She pulled away from him. With a lead of fifty yards, Katie flew through the entryway and turned up a large corridor that ran towards what she hoped was the front desk, towards people, towards phones, and hopefully towards security guards.

  Katie rounded a corner and ran up to a large counter. The young man behind the counter stared at a monitor and pecked on a keyboard.

  Thirty feet away, Katie began her plea for help. “Call 911, I’m one of the captives from the yacht. I escaped, but the head of the gang is only a few seconds behind me.”

  She had the young man’s attention, but he stood frowning, making no move to help.

  James turned the corner, thirty yards away.

  “There he is. Call 911 now!”

  The clerk finally reached for the phone.

  She had only a moment to decide what to do. James was already close enough to kill her if he had a gun. Trying to run away could hasten that.

  An image of a training session with Granddad flashed through her mind. She decided to try in the real world what she had only rehearsed in practice.

  As James bore down on her, Katie feigned wide-eyed fear that froze her to the spot. She didn’t need to fake the fear, only the freezing part. It wasn’t easy because every impulse her panicky mind gave her was to run, run to the left, to the right, run anywhere, but not to remain here.

  James slowed as he approached her. His dead eyes met her gaze, and his arms reached for her. His fingers spread wide to grab her shoulders or arms.

  Katie recalled his strong hand clamping on her arm when he lifted her onto the yacht. She couldn’t let him get a grip on her.

  With determination in his eyes and on his face, James rushed at her.

  Katie planted her left foot behind her and, in an explosion of energy, kicked her right foot into James’s onrushing face.

  He hadn’t a clue the kick was coming. Her powerful leg drove his head backward while his feet continued towards her. James went down hard on his back. Blood splattered from his nose, and his head struck the floor with a loud sound that would surely be accompanied by pain.

  How much pain? Katie didn’t know, so she couldn’t rely on a single kick stopping a man as strong and desperate as James.

  Flat on his back on the floor, James raised his head.

  Katie stomped his solar plexus as Granddad had demonstrated.

  The air rushed from his lungs. He tried to suck the air back in. It was a vain attempt.

  Her kick had done its intended work.

  James’s head flopped back onto the floor.

  Knocking the breath out of him would only temporarily incapacitate him. Katie drove her fist into his exposed throat, dead center on his larynx.

  James clutched his throat, thrashing wildly as he fought to breathe. Either his breathing would eventually return, or he would die shortly without medical help.

  Katie hadn’t a clue how much damage she had done. But James would be, according to Granddad, incapacitated for two or three minutes at a minimum and perhaps forever.

  Katie turned to look over the counter at the young man.

  He stood holding the phone, mouth open, eyes wide.

  “Did you call 911?” Katie’s voice was loud, demanding. She stepped towards him.

  “Yes.” With his gaze locked on her, the young man backed away.

  “Do you have security guards in the building?”

  “Yes.” The young man took another step backward.

  “Call them, now. Before he recovers.”

  In her peripheral vision two people appeared running towards her. Katie tensed at this new danger. She turned towards them in a fighting posture.

  “Katie!”

  It was Jennifer and Lee.

  Jennifer’s arms wrapped around her. Love and security flowed in, and Katie relaxed for the first time in nearly a day.

  Lee squeezed her shoulder but turned immediately to the prostrate man making choking noises on the floor. “Is this James?” Lee’s gaze darted between Katie and the man.

  “That’s him,” Jennifer answered.

  Katie nodded and then glared at the incapacitated man.

  ****

  Lee surveyed the
area around them and then looked over the counter into a small room behind it. “Grab the five iron out of that golf bag.”

  The clerk didn’t move.

  Lee glared at the young man behind the counter. “Get it now, dude, or this guy is going to get up again.”

  The guy stood frozen.

  Lee pointed a thumb at the man on the floor. “Would you like some of what this guy got?”

  Katie turned towards the clerk and raised her right fist.

  “I’m on it.” The clerk pulled the five iron from the golf bag and gingerly handed it to Lee.

  Lee yanked it from the man’s hand and swiveled towards James, who was making feeble attempts to stand as he choked down inadequate amounts of air.

  Granddad trotted in from the entrance and ran straight for Katie. “Thank God, Katie, I was so worried about you.”

  With Granddad’s arms around her, Katie’s tears of relief began to flow. She choked off a sob. “Granddad, you saved my life.”

  “But how? I wasn’t even—”

  “The kick, the stomp, and the throat punch.” Katie smiled through her tears.

  “You delivered all three…to him?” He pointed at the man clutching his throat.

  “I had to. We evidently both swam from the yacht to the same spot. He saw me, chased me in here, and I tried to surprise him. I didn’t know what else to do. I was so scared.”

  Granddad’s arms were around her again. “I think you did all the right things, Katie. That was all the self-defense I had time to teach you. No, I won’t scold you for the throat punch. This”—Granddad pointed towards James with a look of disgust—”is what the throat punch was meant for.”

  Katie winced and gasped when Granddad’s arm pressed on her bruises.

  “Katie, are you hurt? What happened?” Jennifer moved close to her.

  Katie hesitated. “They shot me, sort of.”

  “Shot you?” Jennifer’s eyes widened. “Where?”

  “In the back. Actually all across my back, but I was about eight feet under water. The bullets didn’t penetrate. They only gave me bruises.”

  “Let me check your back.” Jennifer spun her around. “Deep bruises. Two of them. Both are on muscles. We should have a doctor look at them. Sometimes deep-tissue trauma can cause problems.”

  Lee draped an arm around Katie and glanced at Granddad who stood watch over James.

  “Jenn, take my cell and call Peterson. Would you please? I’ve got a daughter to attend to.”

  Katie stretched her tear-stained cheeks and formed a smile.

  He pulled her close. This young lady who had saved his life twice in the past six weeks continued to amaze him with her incredible ability to come through in a crisis.

  “Katie,” he whispered in her ear, “maybe you should consider that offer Peterson gave you a few weeks ago. He’ll probably offer it again when he sees this.” Lee gestured towards James.

  Jennifer handed Lee his cell phone. “Peterson is on his way. I could hear the relief in his voice. But we’ll probably all have to endure a lecture, complete with all sorts of threats, when he gets here.”

  Sirens grew louder and tires screeched to a stop in the parking area behind the resort.

  Lee released Katie and glanced at James. His coughing and choking had subsided. He locked gazes with the man. This guy was desperate. With the police arriving, he would test Granddad. Lee opened his mouth to warn him.

  James rolled away from Granddad and pushed himself up from the floor. Granddad’s whirling kick put the man on the floor again.

  “That was only a warning. If you move again, I’ll kill you.” Granddad’s voice held an icy chill that Lee found intimidating even though it wasn’t directed at him.

  He studied Granddad’s face and posture. Everything about him at the moment was intimidating, despite his age and his size.

  “He’s not listening, Granddad,” Katie said. “Look at his eyes. You need to—”

  James rolled towards Granddad this time and tried to snag a leg.

  A leap and a stomp stilled James. The man appeared to be out cold.

  Two uniformed men came to a stop nearby with their guns out. One of them addressed the clerk. “Who are the good guys and who are the bad ones?”

  The clerk pointed down at James. “He’s the bad dude. But that little guy standing over him is one bad dude, too. And the girl,” he shook his head and whistled, “She’s something else. Took this guy out all by herself. To look at her you’d think—”

  Katie’s glare cut off the clerk’s statement.

  Lee locked gazes with the nearest officer. “The guy on the floor is named James. The leader of the gang on the yacht. He just got his bell rung, twice.”

  “By,”—the officer pointed at Granddad, then at Katie—”you two?”

  “Most recently by my Granddad.” Katie smiled at the policeman. “We warned him, but he wouldn’t listen, so Granddad kicked the devil out of him.”

  Lee draped an arm around Katie. “With him, Katie,” he nodded towards James. “I don’t think it’s possible to kick him that hard. But then I’m not the man’s judge.”

  The officer smiled at Katie. “I’d better read him his rights so he can eventually face someone who is.”

  35

  Lee looked across the hotel lobby towards the entryway when a tall man wearing a suit entered. Peterson had arrived. Following him were two Maui police officers.

  “The place is already crawling with news media. Microphones, cameras, vans, even a helicopter from Channel 7 on Oahu. They swarm to violence like a shark to blood in the water.” Peterson shook his head. “You’d think these people have never seen a yacht explode and burn before.” He cracked a grin as he strode up to Katie and Jennifer. “Are you two all right?”

  Jennifer let out a sharp sigh. “We thought so, but they shot Katie in the back while—”

  “Shot her!” Peterson’s voice boomed out, echoing down the hallway.

  “I dove into the water and the bullets from—I think it was an AK-47—bounced off my back. They just bruised me.”

  “Bruised you?” Peterson took a calming breath. He held Katie’s gaze and shook his head. “Do you want me to tell you what the odds of that are, young lady?”

  “It doesn’t matter. Odds never matter with God.” Katie smiled.

  “You may be right about that, Katie, but we still should have you looked at. Deep muscle bruising can have complications.”

  “Yeah. That’s what Jenn told me.”

  Peterson looked at the clerk behind the counter. “Do you have a doctor on duty here?”

  “Yes, sir. Until 8:00 PM this evening.”

  “Call him.”

  The young man didn’t move.

  Peterson flipped out his badge. “I’m Special Agent Peterson, FBI and I’m the Incident Commander for the entire operation involving the yacht and the abduction. I want this young lady to see a doctor now.”

  Startled, the young man reached for the phone.

  “He’s a little slow.” Lee chuckled. “But not a bad kid.”

  “I’m not slow.” The clerk glared at Lee. “My IQ is 125 and I—”

  “Sorry, buddy. Katie’s got you beat by forty points and Jennifer”—he nodded towards her—”by eighty. No offense. Slow’s just a relative thing.” Lee grinned at him.

  “Good grief. What kind of people are you? A bunch of geniuses who can kick like Chuck Norris, but look like…” his gaze darted between Katie and Jennifer.

  “Like the cream of the crop.” Lee smiled at the young man. “Meet my wife and my daughter.”

  “But she’s not old enough to have a child her age and,” he pointed to Katie, “she’s too old to be your—”

  “Kid, you’re digging a hole for yourself. If you tick Katie off she’ll—”

  “Yeah, I know. Tick rhymes with kick.”

  “The doctor…” Peterson pointed to the phone in the clerk’s hand.

  “I’m on it, sir.” The young man
nodded.

  ****

  Lee held Jennifer’s hand. He glanced at her face. The hand was attached to a body that was incredibly beautiful. But best of all, it was alive. Maybe the nightmare was over.

  As the five walked towards the doctor’s office, Katie move from Jennifer’s side and took a position beside the tall FBI agent. “Does the offer you made to me six weeks ago still stand?”

  “Does that mean you might give the bureau try?”

  Katie sighed sharply. “It’s a lot more than might.” She paused. “You’re not going to be retired in five years are you?”

  Peterson chuckled. “I don’t plan to, but why—”

  “I’m starting college early. I should graduate when I’m twenty, in about four and a half years. I just wondered if—”

  “Yes, I’ll be around…as you say, Lord willing. And I’d be delighted to be a reference for you, Katie. The bureau could never have enough like you.”

  “She sure beats Bastian,” Lee quipped.

  “I didn’t give him a reference.” Peterson sighed. “I just got saddled with the young guy who was a square peg in a round hole. Now let’s see what the doctor has to say.”

  Lee watched the doctor motion for Katie to step into a small examination room.

  When the door closed, Jennifer looked up at the tall FBI agent. “There are some things I need to know.”

  He looked down at her. “Shoot. I’ll help if I can.”

  “As you know, this is our second attempt to…to…I don’t want to spend my wedding night worrying about uninvited guests.” Her voice rose in volume and in pitch.

  “Don’t worry, Jennifer. We got them all. They’ll never bother you again. You’ve got my word on it.”

  “Not good enough, Peterson. I need to have an accounting. What about the guy called Cookie?”

  “Cookie. He was shot by one of his own gang members a couple of hours ago.”

  “There was another guy…I called him Mao. I never knew his name, but he had a Chinese accent. He was at the house in Kihei.”

  “He’s the guy who shot Cookie. We don’t know if Cookie will survive, but he talked a little. As a result, we got Mao—his real name is Nguyen—near the airport, about an hour ago. He was James’s pilot for his Gulfstream.”