Dangerous Depths (26 page)

“I’m coming,” she called.

He heard her feet thump on the ground, but he didn’t turn. When Leia joined him, they both began to scoop out dirt with their hands. It was fully dark now, but moonbeams illuminated the hole enough to keep working. Sweat trickled down his back and soaked his T-shirt. “I think we’ve almost got it loose.” He struggled with a tree root that had entangled the box until he succeeded in breaking its grip. The large chest lay exposed. “Can you help me lift it out of the hole?”

“I think so.” Leia got her fingers under the end of the chest and began to lift. “It’s heavy, but I think I can do it.”

He hefted his end, and they succeeded in maneuvering the cumbersome object out of the hole and onto the solid ground. “Open it,” Leia said, her voice hushed. He nodded and tried to lift the lid. It was locked.

He seized the shovel and stood. “Stand back.” He hit the lock with the back of the shovel, again and again, until it broke. “You want to do the honors?” His smile felt huge as Leia reached toward the lid.

She touched it. “I’m almost scared,” she whispered. They stared at each other, then she lifted the lid to reveal a small jumble of jewelry and gold coins. She frowned. “I expected more,” she said.

The jewelry and gold coins barely covered the bottom of the chest. Bane had reached to pick up a coin when he felt something hard dig into his back.

“Step away from the chest,” a cold male voice said. “Don’t turn around.” A burlap bag was thrust into Bane’s hands. “Put the stuff in the bag and don’t try anything, or I’ll shoot you both. The girl-friend can help too.”

Bane’s anger rose, but he didn’t dare turn and attack. Not with Leia here. They both began to drop handfuls of jewelry and coins into the bag. He felt keen regret as precious rings, brooches, and coins went through his fingers and into the bag. To come so close and now lose it left a bad taste on his tongue. Maybe he could over-come this guy. His thoughts raced to find a way out. His fingers scraped the bottom of the wooden chest, and he got the last pieces into the bag.

“Where’s the rest of it?”

“That’s all there is.”

The man swore, and the gun dug deeper into Bane’s back. “Drop the bag behind you. Don’t turn around, either one of you.”

There went his idea to hit the guy with the bag when he handed it to him. Bane eased the burlap bag to the ground behind him. If only he still had the shovel at his fingertips, but he had nothing, no weapon other than his bare hands.

“Count to one hundred before you turn around, or your girl-friend gets a bullet to the head,” the gruff voice warned. “Start counting.”

Bane curled his fingers into his palms. If only Leia weren’t here, he would whirl and jump the guy. It was foolhardy to try it, he knew. The hard gun dug in again, and he began to count. “One, two, three . . .”

“Keep counting.”

The gun was removed, and he heard a soft
umph
and the sound of footsteps running away. “Fifteen, sixteen, seventeen . . .” He stopped and turned cautiously. There was no one there. Leia was gone too.

T
he man’s hand smelled of onions as he kept it clasped over her nose and mouth. Leia struggled to free herself, but the man kept an iron grip on her and dragged her behind the other man. Her captor paused, and his grip slackened. Leia bit down on the finger closest to her mouth. His stifled scream sounded like a snort, and he turned her loose. She darted into the thick vegetation to her right.

Leia dived under a thick bush. The moon hid its face behind a bank of clouds. On both sides of her, the jungle was alive with sound: crickets chirped, tree frogs croaked a deep bass melody, and some larger animal thrashed through the underbrush. Probably a deer, she told herself. She could hear the men whispering as they searched for her, and she held her breath. The sound of their voices faded, and she prayed they were giving up.

She crawled out from under the bush and hurried along a narrow path she recognized that led back to her grandmother’s cottage. The air around her seemed to thicken, and it almost sounded as though someone or something stalked her again. She whirled and stared into the encroaching darkness. Her knees were barely sup-porting her as the adrenaline raced through her body. The only sound that came to her ears was the waterfall behind her. She forced her feet forward.

A twig snapped behind her, and she whirled again, her heart pounding loudly in her ears and her breath was labored. The soft, furtive noises seemed deliberate—and full of malice. She wished she
could convince whoever was pursuing her that she knew nothing about Koma’s secret.

Her feet moved forward again of their own volition. She wanted to break into a run, but she knew she didn’t dare. Panic would over-take her, and besides, it was too dark and the path too treacherous to run along it in the dark. She’d fall and break something. She wished she had a weapon. Anything. Her gaze swept the dark ground. A stout stick would do, but all she saw were twigs and branches too small to inflict any damage. A couple of sharp-edged rocks lay along the side of the path, and she stooped and grabbed them up. These would be better than nothing. Hefting a rock in each hand, she hurried as fast as she dared down the hill toward home.

She felt rather than saw the attack when it came. A wind of movement rushed past her, and she heard the rustle of leaves as someone propelled toward her. She turned and raised the rock in her left hand to defend herself, but a hard body rammed into her and drove her to the ground. She fought with the calloused hands that wrestled her. The scent of decaying leaves and moss enveloped her, then she smelled tobacco and mint on the man’s breath as he leaned over her and pinned her hands to the ground above her head.

“You’re a wildcat,” he panted. “I’m going to have to hurt you if you don’t lay still.”

She redoubled her efforts, but he was too strong for her. A gash caked with blood marred his forehead, and she recognized his face but couldn’t place it. “I’ll do worse than cut your head if you don’t let me up.” She tried to bite his wrist, but he jerked it out of the way, releasing her right hand. She brought it up and smashed the rock against his cheek.

He yowled, and both hands flew to his face. She managed to get her knee up and jammed it into his groin. He uttered a screech that would have been funny if the situation weren’t so desperate. With him incapacitated, she scrambled out from under him and tried to get to her feet, but he grabbed her ankle and jerked her back.

“I’ll teach you,” he growled.

“Logan, that’s enough.” The second man moved into view. Though it was too dark to see him clearly, he exuded authority and menace.

Before Leia could make another attempt at escape, he trussed her hands and feet together. The first man grabbed the rope around her wrists and jerked her to her feet. “I can’t walk like this,” she said. She’d lost a slipper in the struggle as well.

He grunted then leaned over and hefted her across his shoulder. Her head hanging upside down, she watched the path recede as the men carried her into the jungle.

Twenty-one

D
eep in the magma chambers, heat glowed in a red-hot pool.

The pressure grew and forced the molten rock up through the crevices, where it found a passage along a weakened fault line. Instead of following a previous path, this lava forced its way through a crevice and raced upward as far as it could. A few feet below the surface, its strength waned, and so it waited for the necessary pres-sure to build and assist it through the last bit of resistance.

B
ane had been wandering aimlessly, looking for Leia and the men who had taken her. He stopped and got out his cell phone, and had a signal this time. He quickly dialed Ipo, but the call was dropped before it could go through. He walked a few feet, but it still didn’t come in. He realized he was in Koma’s yard. Maybe he could get a signal on the tree platform.

He squinted in the moonlight, but it was so dark that he stumbled several times over things Koma had left in the yard. He got to the tree and stood looking up into its dark branches. He clambered up to the platform and took out his phone again. There was a signal. He dialed Ipo’s number again. It seemed to ring forever before Malia’s voice answered. “Malia, it’s me. I need you to call Detective Ono. Some men took Leia.”

There was a long pause. “What men? Where is she?”

“We found the treasure, but two men showed up. They took it and Leia. I’ve been searching for her, but there’s no trace.”

Malia gasped. “I’ve been feeling antsy all evening. Eva called too, all upset that some monster was going to hurt Leia. We have to find her. We’ll be right there.
Tûtû
is in bed, and I’ll just let her sleep.”

“No! Someone needs to stay with her. Get Ono and send him out. Tell him I’m at Koma’s cabin. Tell him to bring flashlights. You and Ajax stay with your grandmother.” Bane ended the call, then tried to call Mano. He lost the signal again. Groaning, he tossed the phone to the floor of the tree stand. Stupid technology anyway. It was useless on this island.

He saw the chest Leia had mentioned. He opened it and saw the bones. It was too dark to tell what kind they were, and he didn’t relish touching them, but he had to wait for Ono anyway. A large calabash with
nenes
carved in the side held some dried leaves. A cloth caught his attention. Just to the side of the bones, it was rolled carefully. He touched it and recognized the feel of
kapa
. He unrolled it and found a
nene
carved from koa wood inside the cloth. He picked up the
nene
and looked at it. It was obviously hand-carved, and by an unskilled hand. Why would someone use a valuable
kapa
to wrap up a worthless carving? It didn’t make sense.

He turned it over in his hands, but it was too dark to see clearly. Maybe there was a lantern in Koma’s cabin. That might be of some use in looking for Leia. He hurried to the edge of the platform and lowered himself to the first limb, then climbed down to the ground.

He stepped to the cabin and went inside. Just to the right of the door stood a table that held a kerosene lantern and matches. He struck one, then breathed a sigh of relief when the wick sputtered and caught fire. He trimmed the wick and lifted the lantern in his hand. Holding it aloft, he went back outside and down the pathway again. Though the lantern wasn’t a floodlight, he was able to see much more of the path. His eyes strained for anything out of the ordinary as he walked along. He came to a bend in the trail and stopped. Nothing. As he moved forward, his foot struck something. He glanced down and saw only tall wire grass. Kneeling, he moved the vegetation aside and found a slipper. Leia’s slipper.

He cupped his hands around his mouth. “Leia, where are you?” He didn’t expect an answer, but he hoped. And prayed. The only answering call was that of an owl. He held the lantern aloft and began to look for clues. The grass rustled, and he stopped and peered into the darkness. A movement came to his left, and he flinched back.

Hina sprang from the grass and began to coil herself around his legs. “Dumb cat.” He stooped to pick her up, but she hissed and darted away. A few feet from where he found the slipper, he found a flattened spot on the grass and a few drops of blood. Leia’s? The thought left him weak.

He couldn’t let himself panic. Leia needed him to keep a clear head. He took a deep breath, then another. Maybe there were more clues. He began to look again, but there was nothing he could see in the dim glow of the lantern. A shout caught his attention. The voice gave him a shot of hope, then he saw Ono running up the path. He was alone, so Malia must have stayed with Ipo.

“Anything?” he asked.

Bane shook his head. “But I found one of her slippers. It looks like there’s been a struggle here.” He showed the detective the flattened grass.

“I’ll get some floodlights strung up out here and see if we can figure out what this is all about.” Ono had dropped the joking manner. “You two used to be engaged. Did you have a falling-out? A big fight?”

Bane saw where the detective was heading. “We were working on our relationship. Look, you’re chasing a rabbit trail by suspecting me. We’ll waste valuable time trying to figure out who took her. She already told you we surprised an intruder the other night, and she found out she was the target. I’d say those two men she over-heard under the tree came back for another try.”

“Could be.” He eyed Bane. “But dirty work is easily hired out.”

Bane
tried again. “I wouldn’t hurt Leia. I love her. We have to find her, and we’re not going to do that by standing around discussing your harebrained idea. Let’s get some lights out here and find her!”

Bane knew the detective wasn’t convinced, but the man nodded and turned to go back down the trail. “I’ll get the lights,” he said.

L
eia’s neck throbbed from her scuffle on the ground. They entered a building, and she smelled damp and mold. The odor reminded her of Tony’s grave, and she shuddered. The closest cap-tor thrust her to the dirt floor. Her elbow struck the ground and began to throb. She sat up, and she looked around. Though the place was dark, she saw enough in the moonlight to recognize the cabin where Koma said Ku lived.

“Stay put, or you’ll be shark bait,” her attacker growled. “No smart comments or I’ll gag you.”

He lit a kerosene lamp, and the weak glow pushed back the stark terror Leia had been feeling. She had to stay strong. She wanted Bane here with a desperation that surprised her. She’d tried to be self-sufficient, but maybe she was fooling herself. Her arms felt tingly, and she couldn’t feel her fingers. She wrestled with the bonds at her wrists, trying not to let her captors see. Flexing her fingers, she tried to think. They couldn’t let her go. She’d seen them. One was probably the man who had killed Jermaine. “What do you want with me?”

“We want the real treasure. If the old lady turns it over, we’ll let you go.” The one she’d injured withdrew a cigarette from his pocket.

“We dug where my grandmother told me. You got all that was there.”

“There has to be more.” The one who carried her sat on an upturned five-gallon bucket and watched her like Ajax watched Hina. He almost had a trace of fear in his face. “Your dad gave it to the old lady. We know that much.”