Page 4 of Carter's Battle

Akela stepped back and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. Mia reached over and grabbed a paper towel, then handed it to her. “Here. Sit and tell me what happened. How did you get into this mess?”

Akela sat on a stool and Mia took the one beside her. She reached for her plate and then took a bite of pizza while she waited for the other woman to stop sniffling. No point in not eating while it was hot. Mostly, she thought it was a good idea to have her mouth full so she didn’t yell at Akela for being fucking stupid and falsifying her business records. God, was this a felony or a misdemeanor? Didn’t matter. There was never a legitimate reason to create two sets of records. But Mia figured Akela must think she had a good reason.

“I know what you’re thinking.” Akela gave her a rueful smile. “I would be thinking it, too, if I were you. How could I do something so stupid?”

Mia tried to keep her face neutral, but she could tell by the look on Akela’s face that she wasn’t so successful. She bit off another large mouthful of her slice.

“Yeah, well it didn’t start off like this.” She played with the paper towel. “Kai needed surgery. The café was doing okay. You know what I mean. Doing okay enough to support us but not doing well enough to do anything crazy. Kai’s surgery was insanely expensive, but the doctor said it was necessary. I scraped together all I had but it wasn’t going to be enough, not to mention Kai and I needed to eat.” She let out a long sigh. “Bobby Kamaka came to see me.”

Mia froze. That was a name she never wanted to hear again. Her heart rate escalated, making it hard to draw a full breath. The pizza solidified into a rock in her gut. She tried to swallow the bite she had in her mouth, but it had turned to sawdust. She set the slice down, trying not to choke. This situation called for a healthy dose of liquid courage. Hopping off the stool, she hurried to the fridge, pulled out a bottle of wine, then a second glass, filled it generously, then refilled her own. She came back around the counter and sat down handing one to Akela.

“So, you know him then,” the other woman said as she studied Mia over the rim of her glass and then took a large gulp of her wine.

“Yeah,” Mia croaked out and then followed suit. “You tell me yours and I’ll tell you mine.”

Akela nodded. “Bobby follows high school sports, and he knew Kai had…has talent. He also knew we weren’t in the best financial shape. He said if I let him use my basement at the store to host a few poker games, then he’d help me out with the surgery.”

Mia closed her eyes. She knew where this was going. “Fucking Bobby Kamaka is a pimple on the butt of a donkey.”

“Yup” Akela agreed. She rubbed her face. “It seemed like a small thing and I really needed the money. Kai…Kai was devastated about his knee. He’d always thought he would make the NFL. His dreams were shattered and I…I just didn’t have the heart to tell him that we’d have to wait about the surgery, that his season was over. Since our mom left, there’s only the two of us. I couldn’t be the one who killed his dream. He worked so hard for it.”

“So you said yes.” Mia sighed. Saying yes to Bobby was akin to opening the door to the devil.

“At first, it was just as he’d said. He held games in my basement a couple times a week, and he paid me a fee. By the time the surgery came around, I had enough to cover it.” Akela took another gulp of wine. “Kai came through with flying colors, which was great, but what I hadn’t counted on was the physical therapy he’d need to get back on the field. I mean, I knew he’d need therapy, but in order to play football again, he’d need twice as much. I…I just didn’t have the money and had no way to get it. I’d already begged, borrowed, or stolen everything I could.”

Mia’s stomach rolled. “What did Bobby do?”

Akela slumped in her chair. “He held more games in the basement. Then he wanted me to cater other games for him. He paid me double for the catering and gave me extra for the games, but it still wasn’t enough and I started getting nervous. Bobby kept coming into the café demanding I do more catering or close early so he could host a longer game. I finally told him no more. I wasn’t doing anything else. I wanted him gone. Kai was just going to have to take the extra time to get back on the field.”

Mia didn’t want to ask. Knowing Bobby and how he was, the answer was going to be rough. Finally, she said in a quiet voice, “What did he do?”

Akela started crying again. “He grabbed Kai and had two goons bring him to the café after it closed. She choked back asob. “One of the guys held a baseball bat to Kai’s knee and Bobby said if I didn’t do exactly as he wanted, he would smash Kai’s other knee so he could never play football again and then he grabbed me, and said he might not stop there.”

“He threatened to rape you?”

She shrugged but wiped her face on the paper towel. “Not in so many words but his meaning was clear.” She chugged more of her wine. “He claimed he had people working in the police department, so if I reported him he’d know. Then he threatened to hurt Emery. He knew that I knew her, and he said if I went to her, he’d make sure to take her out.”

Mia reached over and hugged the other woman. “Oh, Akela, I am so, so sorry.” This was awful. Worse than awful. This was hell and there was no way out. Mia straightened. “I can guess the rest. That’s when he started to run the gambling money through the café’s books.”

Akela nodded. “He ran off a lot of my regulars by just hanging out. Everyone knows he’s bad news. No one wants to be around him.” She let out a shuddering breath. “Mia, he said he’d take me down with him if I did anything to put him in jail. I had supplied my place to be used for gambling, which is illegal in Hawaii, and now he’s cooking my books or, his accountant is.”

Mia didn’t think it was possible, but she felt worse. “Who is the accountant?” she asked dread filling every cell of her being.

“Donny Nakamura”

“Oh my God.” Mia thought for a moment she might actually be ill. The room swam. She took a deep breath and held it for a minute until everything righted itself and then she let it out.

Akela stared at her. “Your turn. How do you know Bobby and Donny?”

Opening her mouth was straight-up difficult. The whole nightmare had been in her rearview mirror for two years now and talking about it was going to bring it all back into focus, as ifit had actually ever truly receded. Akela’s situation had brought the horror all the way back again and landed on her chest with both damn feet. She hated Bobby Kamaka and Donny Nakamura with a fierceness that scared her.

“I am pretty sure they killed my parents.”

CHAPTER 3

Carter leanedagainst the side of the Jeep and studied the ocean. Hawaii was much more than he’d bargained for. Sure, it had beaches, but it also had pastureland and jagged black volcanic rock. Rain forests were dominant on one end, while the other side resembled a desert. It amazed him how different the Big Island could be around every curve in the road.

He sipped his water as he gazed at a surfer paddling furiously. The incoming wave was a big one and the guy managed to catch it just right. He was good and made it look easy which it most definitely was not. Carter had tried it a few times but could never really master the skill. Now that he was going to be here for a while maybe it was time to really learn.

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