Raul wondered if he could die of a glare as both Zu and Arin pinned him with dark looks.
Mali sat cross-legged in her chair and braced her palm against the table edge. “There were good reasons, and I had the presence of mind to take an excellent buddy with me.”
Granted, he was glad she was taking the accountability for their outing, but he intensely disliked being referred to as a buddy. They weren’t kids headed out on a field trip.
He wasn’t going to let her take all the heat though. “I made the call to take her back to her hotel.”
“I was going with or without you.” Mali shot at him, sitting straighter in her chair.
He fought the urge to grin. He liked getting her amped up. “I figured it was better to go along then and follow some safety precautions instead of letting her try to sneak out of here.”
Mali relaxed back into her chair, somewhat mollified, but she was still giving him serious side eye. In a few short sentences, she gave them a terse summary of her reasoning and their adventures for the day.
Raul kept his gaze locked on Zu’s throughout. As Mali mentioned the trip to the pineapple plantation and the meeting with her contact, Zu’s eyebrow rose. Meanwhile, Raul thought he could feel Arin’s stare burning a hole in the side of his skull. He didn’t dare look at her yet.
“I’m waiting to hear back from the university about the ransom.” Mali reached for another butter mochi as she finished her update. “I figure I’ll be the one to make the exchange since I’m the only university representative here on the island.”
“No.” Arin’s voice was quiet and cold enough to freeze the tabletop.
Both Raul and Zu looked at Arin. It’d be stupid not to be watching her when she had that dangerous tone and deadly calm.
Taz whined at Raul’s side, and Raul dropped a hand to his partner’s shoulder to give him a reassuring pat.
“This is my job.” Mali hunched her shoulders, studying her butter mochi without taking a bite.
“A ransom exchange is complicated.” Arin frowned. “We need to know more about who took your research team.”
“What, money isn’t enough?” Mali glanced up and took a bite out of her treat.
Interesting. Raul focused on the exchange. Maybe Mali had been bracing for a fight. With Arin calm, Mali was more ready to look up and talk. They might not even be aware of the strain in the dynamic between them.
“Money is always a good enough reason. Most people don’t look deeper.” Arin rolled her shoulders. “That’s how they end up captured themselves. They bring the money, the kidnappers take them, too.”
Mali paled under her tan. “For more ransom.”
“Depends.” Arin hesitated. “Sometimes the kidnapped could identify their captors. You said the men after you didn’t make any attempt to hide their faces.”
Mali connected the dots. “They want the money but they aren’t going to let anyone go.”
Or live.
It hung in the air, a hard truth. All of them understood. No one wanted to lay it out there just to drive it home.
After a moment, Mali nodded. “So following instructions is out of the question. What are our other options?”
Raul looked at her with respect.
Zu stepped around to lean his hip on the counter behind Arin so Mali could see him without twisting in her seat. He still stayed a healthy distance out of Kalea’s way at the stove. “You’re willing to deviate from your university’s policies on these situations?”
Mali’s gaze darted to Zu, to her sister, and then back to Zu. “What you’re saying makes sense, and I don’t want to be a walking victim.”
Arin let out a sigh. “That’s settled then.”
“But I am not going to give up on my research team.” Mali’s voice hardened with conviction. “We have the ransom money coming from my university for this situation. You are professionals who specialize in finding lost people. I’ll hire you with it.”
“That’s not what I was getting at here.” Arin shook her head. “Contrary to what you might think about private contract organizations—”
“Mercenaries,” Mali pressed.
Raul winced. They were professionals. The word “mercenary” was almost always hurled in their direction as an insult.
Arin gave her sister a tight-lipped smile. “This is not about getting that money. To be honest, our current contracts are more profitable.”
Mali wilted. “I’m not giving up on my colleagues.” She hesitated, and her tone took on a much more human, vulnerable pitch. “They’re my friends.”
Those words, that tone…it was like taking a shot to the chest. Ouch.
“I’ll help you.” The words tumbled out of his mouth, and he didn’t even want to take them back.
Both Zu and Arin glared at him.
“You don’t know this island.”
“You’re new to this line of work.”
They both started and stopped at the same time. Zu cleared his throat, and after a tense moment, Arin leaned back on the chair until it balanced on two of its four legs as she held onto the back for balance.
Zu gave Raul a hard stare. “You just reported in for this position. You don’t know how we work yet, but I told you when you interviewed: this is a team. We don’t do solo work.”
It wouldn’t be wise to point out, at the moment, that none of them worked alone. They each had their canine partners. Taz’s head pressed against the side of his knee was a comfort and silent support.
“You also chose me for your team because I chose to do the right thing.” Raul might be alienating himself from his team or even getting himself fired. But a research team taken right off the streets sounded like people who weren’t concerned about local law enforcement.
“I do not want you exposed to any more danger.” Arin drew the statement out word by word. Her gaze settled on Mali, but it wasn’t harsh or angry. It was intense.
“I wouldn’t be anyone you respect if I hid away or went back to the mainland while the rest of my team was in danger.” Mali met her sister’s gaze. “I’ll listen to you all. I’ll follow your procedures. But I’m going to help you every step of the way.”
Arin stared at Mali for what seemed like a long time. Everyone in the room seemed to be holding their breath, and even Kalea’s cooking had gone silent. Then Arin set her chair back down on all four legs. “If we leave you here, you’ll climb out a window. It’s safer if you’re with us.”
Zu nodded. “I’ll put a call in to Pua and Kai. Pua’ll need to put a hold on our schedule. Kai will get set up to be our communications coordinator. We’ll need him to get started on as much research as possible while we go for more unconventional intel.”
Raul looked at them in surprise. They’d given in, fast. “We have some data to get them started.”
He quickly told them about the situation with the man taking pictures. Apparently, Todd hadn’t had a chance to talk to either Zu or Arin yet. They’d all need to catch up with him to find out what Officer Kokua might’ve learned from the man when he’d been taken into custody.
Raul had looked briefly once they’d finished up their shaved ice treat and returned to the car. It’d been a temporary moment of safety and Mali had been calm. He hadn’t wanted to wait any longer to know what pictures were taken. There were definitely images captured of Mali, so those at least established why Raul had stopped the man. At a quick glance, he’d found other, more damning images on the storage card.
The bastard was definitely going to be held accountable for those. With luck, it would be enough to overshadow any questions about Taz’s part in apprehending the man.
“Do you want this card to go to your people or your unconventional source? Miller mentioned you had one,” Raul asked.
Zu considered for a moment. “We’ll leave it here for Todd to turn over to the police as soon as possible, but we’ll make a copy to take to our source.”
Raul nodded.
Zu shook his head. “I
t’s good that Todd has such a strong relationship with local law enforcement. None of us can do this kind of thing in the future. We want the law on our side, not watching over our shoulders, expecting us to go rogue.”
“Understood.” Raul met his new team leader’s gaze. “It won’t happen again.”
“See that it doesn’t.” Zu let the discussion drop.
Raul looked at Taz and then Mali. It’d been worth it, and the best action he could think of in the moment. He had no regrets, but he’d expected more resistance and definitely a reprimand for his actions.
Arin gave him a sharp glance. “We’re still having a serious discussion when the clock isn’t running, and I might rip you a new one in the meantime, once we’re on the move.”
Well, that felt more normal.
Chapter Ten
Seriously?” Arin’s face was dark with barely contained anger. “You took her back to her hotel.”
Well, that hadn’t taken long.
Raul watched Arin step into the house’s small office with him and shut both their dogs out in the hallway. They were about to go head to head, and it made sense not to risk their dogs responding to their tempers. It wasn’t likely, but better not to expose the dogs to it. For the moment, he opted to keep his responses short and let her have her say.
“Yes.” It was a fact. He wasn’t going to deny it.
“Then you took her all over the island like you two were sightseeing.” Arin’s voice turned incredulous. “It must’ve been a lovely date. Let’s not worry at all about people trying to kidnap her yesterday or the same people contacting her today.” She paused, nostrils flaring as she breathed in and let the air out in a slow, measured breath. “If they could take pictures of her like they did, they could’ve shot and killed her before you could get her to cover.”
“They didn’t.” It wasn’t much of a defense, but it was all he could say.
“You exposed her!” Arin had barely raised her voice, but the intensity of it lifted the hairs on the back of his neck. “She would’ve been safe here, and you took her where they could find her.”
“Which was why I got her out of harm’s way and stopped for the damned shaved ice.” He raised his hands, trying not to escalate into arguing. “We lost anyone following us from the plantation. It was a risk, but it worked. She’s here in one piece and happy to see you. That’s what matters.”
“They could’ve gotten their hands on her.” Arin wasn’t satisfied. “They could’ve decided it wasn’t worth taking her, and they could’ve tried to kill her instead.”
“She could’ve been out there by herself,” he countered. “She’s an adult, and it wasn’t like we could sedate or restrain her to keep her here.”
Arin didn’t answer, but the look on her face seemed like she was considering whether they could’ve kept Mali against her will.
“She was going to go to the hotel on her own. Then she would’ve been grabbed there or would’ve gone to the plantation with no one to look out for her.” Raul continued rationally. “We can’t guess at what could’ve happened. It didn’t.”
Arin curled her hands into fists and released them. “That’s my sister.”
“Trust me. I’ve had that at the top of my mind.” Raul lifted his hands, palms out, in a sign of surrender. “But I seem to be the only one remembering she’s an adult here. Want to tell me what’s going on?”
For a second, he thought Arin was going to blow up in his face, but then her shoulders slumped. “She’s my kid sister. No matter how old we get, that’s not going to change. I look at her now and I remember how much she struggled when we were children.”
He drew his brows together. “What do you mean?”
Arin leaned against a nearby desk. “She was a prime target for bullies as a kid, small for her age, quiet, and studious.”
He could picture a tiny version of Mali. She’d have been a cute child. He dismissed the image quickly though, because the child grew in his mind’s eye into the adult he’d met and held in his hands. He was very fixated on the adult Mali. “She’s very smart.”
“She’s brilliant. Our parents did everything they could to provide for us so she could concentrate on her studies. I did everything possible to make sure bullies left her alone.” Arin sighed. “Maybe I didn’t do her any favors.”
“How so?”
“Most times, I took care of things before the bullies got to her. It only took a couple of minutes to discourage them. They weren’t really going after her, just looking for easy prey. But a couple of times, I jumped on a bully right in front of her.” Arin barked out a laugh, but the sound was sad. “There I was, barely ten. I was wearing a party dress, lace stockings, and patent leather shoes, sitting on top of some boy’s chest and punching him in the face. As little as we were, the violence scared her. I made her afraid.”
Raul wanted to grin at the thought of a young Arin in a frilly dress, but the memory was obviously hurting her. Where he respected and liked her, his best friend hated parts of herself. He didn’t know how to help her. “You were defending Mali.”
Arin nodded. “And as an adult, she knows that. But deep inside, we’re both still those kids and she’s still afraid of what I can do.”
Raul remained silent. Everyone struggled with their own issues. Some of them came from childhood, like Arin’s. His had happened more recently. They each had to battle their own demons and live with the scars. The best he could do for her was listen, try to understand, and accept her for who she was. She’d done the same for him. Besides, if Mali was afraid of Arin based on childhood memories, how would Mali feel about him once she learned about what he’d done as an adult?
“All our lives, I’ve done everything I could to protect her, even from me.” Arin shook her head. “I kept my distance and didn’t give her details of what I did. She didn’t need to know I’m still a monster, but she’s going to remember again.”
There it was. Raul finally realized where Arin was going with all of this. “You’re not protecting her from these people on your own.”
There was a deep sadness in Arin’s eyes. “I’ll do what I have to do.”
He took a step toward her, angry now. “Not alone. Don’t fool yourself. If you try to take these people out singlehandedly, you’ll fail and you’ll leave your sister even more vulnerable. That’s unacceptable.” His voice came harsh, almost a growl, and Arin snapped out of her melancholy in response to his aggression. He continued, carried on the heat of his own temper. “If Taz and I weren’t enough in your opinion, then with what we know after today, you and King aren’t enough in mine. The best way to keep her safe is to do this as part of the team. We’re going to protect her as a unit.”
Arin stared at him, and he held her gaze. He wasn’t backing down. After a long minute, she nodded. “You’re right.”
Just like that, his best friend was back. She was a little subdued, her ghosts still haunting her, but she wasn’t thinking stupid things anymore. She also wasn’t about to rip him a new one anymore. Her gaze was clear and she held herself with an air of purpose again.
Raul dragged his fingers through his hair. “Good. I didn’t want to get to a point where we really tried to kick each other’s asses.”
Chapter Eleven
It was dark on the island, really dark. Mali peered out the car window trying to see beyond the road and into the heavy black on either side.
“We’re headed back up to North Shore again?” She still wasn’t clear on the thought process for this evening’s foray out on the island. “It’s after sunset, and don’t most businesses shut down pretty early?”
The first part of the highway had been well lit, but as they’d driven an hour and more, lighting had tapered off. Now there were only streetlights near infrequent intersections, and many were low intensity. The stars shone bright from this part of the island.
“Depends on the business and where you are. I haven’t been here long either, but I got the impression only offices clo
se in time to catch sunset.” Arin shrugged. She sat relaxed in the driver’s seat, but she looked up into the rearview mirror to give Mali a reassuring wink before returning her attention to the road. “There’s plenty of places open for dinner. Lots of shops are open into the evening for tourists in town.”
Mali frowned. Okay, her sister had answered her question but… “I’m still not clear on why we’re headed out to North Shore.”
The SUV was full-up. Arin was driving and Zu sat shotgun, theoretically navigating but he’d mostly been silent on the ride. Mali wasn’t anxious about that, though. Arin had a tendency to remember how to get to and from a place if she’d been there at least once. Wherever this was, Arin knew how to get there even in the dark. Raul sat next to Mali in the passenger seat of the SUV looking out the window on his side of the vehicle while no less than three dogs were laying in the back.
Mali had been surprised about the dogs coming along. Then again, she’d never seen Raul go anywhere without Taz. In years past, Arin had come home to visit without her working dog partner. Arin had been serving in the US Military back then, not as a private contractor, but Arin’s current dog was with them now as well as Zu’s. Maybe it was a team policy.
“We need information.” It was Zu who finally spoke, his voice deep enough to resonate in her sternum as it filled the small space of the SUV. “Kai is running searches online and in databases we can access, but intel from those sources will take some time.”
“They’re also a few steps removed from the primary sources,” Arin added.
Zu grunted. “We’ve got a contact who specializes in intel regarding this island, specifically. If anything is going down on Oahu, he’ll have some kind of information on it. He’s our fastest and most direct source to help your friends.”
Arin slowed the SUV and guided it off the road onto a large shoulder with parking spots. There were no streetlights, but the moon was rising in the sky. Mali’s eyes adjusted enough to see a little once Arin switched off the headlights. There were no buildings for several yards, but they’d passed some residences set back from the road and mostly hidden by trees. “This contact is out here in the middle of nowhere?”
Total Bravery (True Heroes Book 4) Page 10
