by Toby Neal
Now things were really getting good. Brandon rubbed his hands together underneath the table. He caught the same gleam of excitement in Captain Omura’s eyes that he felt.
There was nothing quite like closing in on prey at the end of a hunt.
Chapter Nineteen
Stevens
Stevens opened the door to get a better look at the massive downed eucalyptus. A blast of cold air and blowing rain almost yanked the heavy wood out of his hands. He slammed it shut—he was lucky his towel was still on.
“We’ll never get to the hospital past that tree.” He turned back to Tiare.
Tiare looked him square in the eye, hands on her hips. “We’re having a home birth now.”
“Oh Jesus.” Stevens covered his face with his hands. “Oh God. I’m so not ready for this.”
“Doesn’t matter. It’s happening. Man up. This is not about you.”
Tiare’s brisk words were a bracing slap. Her gaze made him think of a warrior princess going into battle—he’d heard that ancient Hawaiian women fought alongside their men.
“You’re right. What do I have to do?”
“Things are moving quickly. I actually think she’s going to want to push in the next hour or so, but it’s going to be very intense for that time. So I want you to go get in that shower with her and make her feel good. Safe. Loved. Rub her back and touch her, if she’ll let you. I’ll set things up out here. We have everything we need, and I’ve got plenty of experience. So you get a grip and go take care of Lei. I’m also going to try to call your brother and Pono, see if I can get through. I’ve been trying the phones and they haven’t been working—but if I can, I’ll have them come with chainsaws and try to cut that tree in case we do need to go to the hospital.” Tiare patted his arm, reassuring him once again. “I’ll come in when you want me, maybe when it’s time to bring her to rest in bed. But keep her calm and comfortable, with the water on her back, as long as possible. The more she can relax and submit to the process, the faster and easier the baby will come.”
“Okay.” Stevens went into the bathroom to find Lei bent over with the force of another contraction. She’d angled the bench under the falling water and was using it for support, leaning over to hold on to it as hot water poured over her back.
Stevens could hardly believe the shape that her belly, previously such a pleasant round, had gone. It was steeply pointed. Every muscle and tendon was sharply defined along her sides. She was breathing noisily, but began a deep, low moan as he stepped into the shower beside her, forgetting he was still wearing the towel. Water promptly soaked him as he knelt on the tile beside her.
“You’re doing great—almost done with this one,” he said. She suddenly grabbed his hair with one hand, pulling as she moaned. Shocked by the pain of her action, he didn’t fight it. Instead, bracing himself, he set one hand on her straining side and the other on the bench as she wrenched his hair. If she wanted him to be in pain, too, so be it.
The tremendous tightness finally loosened, and so did her clutching fist. His scalp burned. She opened her fingers, white with strain. The palm of her hand was filled with dark hairs.
“Sorry,” she panted, collapsing to sit on the bench. “I don’t know why I did that.”
“I do.” He fetched a washcloth and wet it under the flow of water. He stood behind her and ran it over her back in long, smooth strokes. “You wanted me to suffer, too. Don’t blame you a bit.”
“Can I bite you next time? I really feel like biting something.” Lei bared her teeth at him. Stevens couldn’t believe she was joking at a time like this.
“No.” He couldn’t even smile.
“Aw. I really want to bite something.”
“Didn’t Tiare tell you to relax your jaw?”
“Screw that.”
“Okay, then. You can bite on this washcloth.” He handed her a fresh one from the cabinet. She put it between her teeth, growling and shaking her head playfully like one of the Rotties with a bone.
“Turns out we aren’t going to the hospital after all.” He wrung out his washcloth and began a gentle massage on her back.
“We’re not?”
“No. We’re staying here. Tiare says we have everything we need. She thinks you’re within hours of delivering the baby. Less disruptive just to do it here, with the weather so bad outside.”
“Okay.” Stevens was surprised that Lei wasn’t more worried, didn’t ask questions—but her focus had turned inward.
He saw the contraction begin, a tremendous lifting and tightening, her abdomen changing shape again. He stabilized her to stand, clutching the bench, the water pouring down on her back once more. He stroked her back with his washcloth as she breathed through it.
He tried to match her breathing and get her to slow down. “Just relax. Let it roll through you. It’s like the weather, passing over the land. And the land endures.” Her eyes were shut. He moved around to stand in front of her. “Open your eyes. Look at me. I’m here with you.” Gently, he tugged at the washcloth in her mouth as Lei bit down on it. “Let go. Relax. Let it move through you.”
Lei opened her mouth. She let go of the washcloth and went into a slower, deeper breathing rhythm with him, but her legs were trembling with exhaustion when it passed. He put his towel under her knees to pad them against the hard tile. She crossed her arms and rested against the bench until the next one.
They went through four more like that until she was shaking with tiredness between contractions, and with the power out, the water was cooling. “I want to lie down,” she muttered. “I need to lie down.”
“Tiare!” he hollered into the dim house. “Need help here!”
Between the two of them they walked Lei back to the big bed in their room.
Tiare had been busy. The bed had been stripped and covered with a big white sheet that crackled with plastic beneath Lei as they got her onto the bed. Candles surrounded the room, casting both light and scent in cozy pools. Tiare had closed the drapes, shutting out the sight and sound of the storm outside.
Stevens was glad, in that moment, that they’d sprung for the heavy-duty, insulated windows. He could hardly hear the lashing of wind and rain outside. They were as safe here as they’d be in any of the island’s hurricane shelters—the house was solid, a concrete cube with a metal roof. Making this place a fortress had been their priority, and once again he was glad of it—glad, too, that a few years ago they’d had all of the tall robustas growing on the property completely removed.
Too bad, though, he hadn’t spent the extra three grand to get the ones near the gate cleared.
These musings were banished as he helped Lei turn onto her side, her back to him. He took a moment to haul on sweatpants and a T-shirt as Tiare murmured to his wife about what was likely coming in the next few hours.
“I want you to stay on your side and just rest between contractions. They say it’s the most comfortable position. Let me know when you feel like you want to push, and I’ll check and make sure it’s time.” Tiare put her stethoscope on the mound of Lei’s belly. “Everything sounds good in there. Baby’s not stressed.”
“How will I know it’s time to push?” Lei’s voice was hoarse.
“Oh, there’s no mistaking it. The body just takes over at that point,” Tiare said. “Here’s a little water.” She gave Lei a cup with a straw and helped her into a loose shirt that buttoned in front.
Stevens returned to Lei’s side. “Move over. I had a long day at work. No sense you hogging the bed.”
Lei smiled, and wriggled over into the middle. Stevens lay down behind her and draped an arm over her. He shut his eyes. They rested, waiting, listening to the rush of the rain on the sturdy windows.
Chapter Twenty
Jared
Jared lay on his back in bed, watching the storm through the uncovered sliding glass door that faced the ocean over Kuau. Massive cloud galleons raced across the sea, trailing scarves of rain shot with lighting. Rain and wave spume ma
de the scene otherworldly, glimpses of intense action veiled and then revealed between skeins of blowing, shroud-like mist.
“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” Kathy rested her chin on his bare chest to look out the slider.
They’d been having lunch at his place, totally platonic on their third date, when the storm hit. His little table on the deck where they’d been sitting had been hit with a belt of wind and torrent of water—but Kathy hadn’t wanted to go inside.
Jared loved storms, too. Kathy was so sexy as she clung to the railing, laughing into the gale. He moved up beside her and crossed an arm over her body as they stood side by side, gripping the railing. The deluge plastered hair and clothing to skin. Exhilaration brought on by the elemental forces around them made Jared throw his head back and yell.
And then she’d turned inside his arms, pulled his head down, and kissed him—and hot damn. The storm had been totally forgotten in what came next.
Jared drew her in front of him and shaped her against him from behind, propping their heads on the same pillow so they could both watch the weather. He slid his hand up and down her side, loving the silk of her skin, her elegant shape. He still couldn’t believe how perfect she was.
God, he hoped she felt even halfway the same about him.
Kathy reached behind her and stroked the length of his thigh, sighing.
Yeah. He could hope.
His phone, plugged in beside the bed, buzzed with a text.
“Don’t get it,” Kathy murmured. “For a little while longer, I want it to be just us.”
Maybe she did feel the same about what was happening between them. But with the storm, there were bound to be emergencies.
“You might as well get used to this now—I’m a firefighter. Interruptions and emergencies are going to be part of our life together.” He kissed her shoulder. She turned her head to look up at him, those blue eyes hazy. He found her lips with his. “If there’s a big one, they’ll call me in. With this storm, there’s no telling.”
“I thought I heard you say that we’re going to have a life together.” She tugged his ear playfully.
“Hell yeah. I’m not letting you go.” He pressed Kathy closer and picked up the phone.
A text from Tiare lit up the screen: Lei is having the baby. It’s the real thing. A big downed tree has us trapped inside their compound. Can you round up some guys with chainsaws to get the gate open?
“Holy shit.” Jared flung the covers off and stood up. “Lei’s in labor and they’re trapped at the house by a fallen tree.”
“Oh my God!” Kathy jumped out of bed on her side, then pulled up short. “My clothes are sopping wet!”
“Stay here. You can dry them and wait for me.” He liked the thought of her in his house, waiting for him—it energized him. “I have a chainsaw out at the tool locker.”
“No. I’m not staying here. I’m coming to help.” Kathy grabbed her panties off the floor and wriggled into them. “You’re not leaving me behind.”
Jared liked that even better than her waiting for him.
The phones were down, but texts seemed to be getting through, so he texted Tiare that they were on their way and he’d try to get a few more guys to help.
Working his phone with his thumbs, calling on several firefighter buddies, Jared sneaked glances at Kathy as she dressed in her rain-soaked clothing. Her mouth puckered as she worked damp pants up long, slim legs. “Wet jeans never go on easy.”
“You sure you want to wear those? I’m okay with you going without.” Jared grinned.
“Brat. I could use one of your shirts, though.”
Jared grabbed one of his Maui Fire Department T-shirts and tossed it to her, pulling another one on himself. Kathy clipped on her bra, wincing at the sensation of the wet fabric, and he laughed. “You can leave that off, too.”
“You’re incorrigible.” She shrugged into the shirt, huge on her, and poked her head out. “Where’s the toolshed? Let’s go.”
“I like you in my shirt.” Jared pulled her into his arms for another kiss.
She pulled away eventually and smacked his chest. “Family emergency. Baby on the way.”
He put on a slicker and handed Kathy a transparent plastic poncho from his closet. They loaded the chainsaw and a couple of axes into the back of his pickup and got on the road to Haiku.
The Hana Highway was almost obliterated by blowing leaves, branches, and torrential rain. Jared navigated as quickly as he dared, circling another fallen tree.
“I’d stop and cut that and move it if we weren’t in a hurry.” Jared’s phone beeped with incoming texts in the console between them. Kathy picked the phone up and read it.
“Two of your friends and Pono are meeting us there. Good. We’ll have help.”
A route that normally took half an hour seemed to take forever, but they finally reached the turnoff for the house.
The tree was massive, with a five-foot diameter and fifty-foot length, one of those eucalyptus invasives—and it had fallen right in front of the compound’s mechanized gate. Lei’s partner, Pono, had just arrived. He jumped out of his jacked purple truck in a bright yellow slicker.
“My wife’s trapped in there, too,” he yelled across the gale to Jared. His junior high-age kids, Ikaika and Maile, hopped out of the truck’s cab and trotted around to join them as he hefted an extra-long chainsaw out of his truck bed.
“How do you want to go about this?” Jared asked. “Did you call the county? They should send out their big tree-cutting rig, too.”
“I tried to call them, but the phones are still down.” Pono’s eyes widened curiously at the sight of Kathy getting out of Jared’s truck, her Maui Fire Department shirt visible through the clear plastic poncho she wore.
“Kathy was at my house when the storm hit, so she’s here to help.” Jared slung an arm around her possessively, and felt happy when she let it stay there.
“Hey, Pono,” Kathy said.
“Hey.” The burly Hawaiian clearly grasped the situation. He grinned quickly, but turned back to look at the house. “Why don’t we each start a cut? Maybe do them every three feet so we can roll the sections out of the way. Bigger logs will weigh a ton.”
“Sounds like a plan. I’ve got a winch on my pickup.” Jared gestured to the back of his truck. “I can pull out any bigger sections.”
“The kids and I will trim the branches.” Kathy called the kids over, introducing herself. The three of them headed away from the heavy chain saw action to chop at the branches digging into the mud and asphalt.
Jared fired up his chainsaw with a roar, feeling the urgency of their task, but also a deep satisfaction. Kathy was with him, wearing his shirt and working right alongside him, hacking away at a thick branch. He sneaked a look over at her. Hair wet, cheeks red with effort, she still looked gorgeous.
He was pretty sure he’d fallen in love.
Man, that had taken a lifetime—but not long at all, once he’d met the right woman.
Jared eventually made his first cut all the way through the massive tree. Pono had finished his, with a longer blade on his saw, and begun another cut as Jared let the straining motor cool for a moment before starting the next one.
The world around Jared closed down to nothing but the tangy smell of flying wood chips and exhaust, the roar of the saw, the buck and heave of it in his gauntleted hands, the sting of rain in his eyes. Jared felt a hand on his shoulder and cut the power, turning to see one of his off-duty firefighter buddies.
“My turn,” his friend Freddie-O said.
Jared surrendered the saw. “Thanks for coming out.” Releasing the heavy tool to the other man, he was surprised to find that his shoulders were tight and burning from exertion—but he and Pono had made several cuts all the way through the massive tree. “Let’s start moving the sections,” he told Pono.
“Ikaika!” Pono called to his son. “Take this cable and climb over the tree. See if you can find a sturdy branch to hook it on to on the o
ther side. We’ll pull the first section out with the truck.”
“Sure.” The bright-eyed kid grabbed the heavy hook attached to Jared’s winch. He shimmied up the huge, wet trunk and disappeared over the other side.
“Let’s move a couple of these out and see if we can get them far enough away that we can get a vehicle through there,” Jared said.
“Sounds good.” Pono gave a brief nod.
“Got it hooked!” Ikaika yelled from the other side of the log.
“Stand way back from it!” Jared yelled. He got into his truck, surprised to find Kathy was already sitting there.
“Whatever you’re doing, I’m doing,” she said.
He had to kiss her.
Then he put the truck in four-wheel drive and pulled forward.
Chapter Twenty-One
C.J.
Driving to the jail through the whipping squalls and pouring rain, Mahoe at the wheel of the cruiser, C.J. was filled with an unfamiliar excitement.
She so seldom got out of her office on a case. She’d long ago concluded that her strength as a leader lay in forging a solid team: bringing together a group of talented people, training them, equipping them, providing clear direction, and then getting out of the way to let them work.
She had a talent for bureaucracy, and she knew it.
But a part of her had missed this: heading out into a storm wearing her weapons, on an important case, just when the pot was coming to a boil.
Mahoe was a cautious driver. Went along with living with his mother and his dedication to the job. Good kid with potential—not the brightest bulb in the box, but a hard worker. She saw him making sergeant someday at the top of his career, married with a couple of kids.
The thought made her a little warm and fuzzy. She was maternal that way, not that she let anyone know.
A sheet of roofing tin bowled across the road in front of them and Mahoe jerked the wheel in reflex. “Holy crap!”
