Page 81 of Wired Justice

Chapter Fifty-Two

Sophie stumbledover the large root of a huge ohialehua tree. The tall, white-barked tree with its silvery-gray oval leaves and red blossoms, familiar from going out run-hiking with Lei Texeira a few times. Sophie’s friend Lei had learned to identify all the native plants, fruits, flowers, and birds from her Aunty Rosario, a lovely woman recently lost to cancer.

Sophie wished she’d been able to meet Rosario. Another regret in a sea of them. Maybe this was her bad luck for plucking that lehua flower on a day that seemed like forever ago…

Odd, the thoughts one had when close to death.

Sophie had noticed before the tendency of the mind to hyper-focus on details that were likely irrelevant, as it tried to escape an extreme situation.

“Keep moving.” Chang used the knife to prod her. “And don’t pretend I really hurt you with that poke to the kidney earlier. I hardly dented you.”

She would not engage. This man was like a cat who liked to play with his food before eating it. Denying him his game might help her live longer.

“There is no trail here.” Sophie picked her way around a towering koa tree draped in vines. “How did you find this place?”

“Pig hunting. And go left. I’ve got the location on my GPS.” She glanced back. Chang was holding his phone out. “It’s a sat phone, so no worries about losing the signal.”

The worst moment of this whole ordeal so far had been when Chang smashed her phone after he zip tied her hands. She’d felt the metallic, splintering sound in her very bones, knowing it meant no one could find her by any electronic means.

The Ghost.Maybe Connor could track Chang’s active satellite phone . . . but how would he know about Chang, or anything about where she was right now? He was out of the country. How could he help her?

She had to help herself. It always came down to that, always would.

Sophie turned her body and trailed her hand along a branch and broke it, bending the leaves downward. Anything she could do to slow her progress and leave a trail that could be followed was worth trying.

“I see what you’re doing. And it won’t work.” Chang grabbed the branch and tossed it away. “The driver is dead and he’s the only one who knows where this place is. We are in a private wilderness area no one knows about.”

“Can’t blame a girl for trying.”

“Sure I can. Keep moving.”

Sophie had laced her fingers together when he zip tied her, pushing her wrists apart as far as they would go, hoping she could create some space between them. But the old escape trick hadn’t quite worked. Even now, she worked her wrists up and down inside the hard, plastic bonds, trying to gain space to pull out one of her hands. Chang had forced her wrists very close together, and the plastic bit deeper into her skin as she tried to move her wrists up or down.

Sophie had to pay attention to her feet, too, as she tripped on roots and trailing vines. The ground was rough, covered with fallen branches, ferns and bushes, and the remains of trees being swallowed into the jungle floor. Even in the extremity of the situation, Sophie noticed the wild red and white hibiscus, the hapu’u tree ferns, the exotic saucer shapes of lilikoi blossoms, their bright round fruit dangling like unlikely Christmas ornaments. Tiny purple orchids grew in clumps up through the mass of ferns and ginger. Hawaii’s native birdsong sweetened the air.

Another day or time, this would have been a beautiful and interesting hike.

Suddenly Sophie felt a draft of heat. She stopped. A tendril of steam wafted up from a crack in the ground beside her.

“Yes. We are getting closer to Pele’s heart,” Chang said from behind her. “Some say that Pele feasts on blood.”

A terrible suspicion curdled Sophie’s gut. They were headed for active lava territory. Even though this upcountry area of Kilauea Volcano was largely inactive, the area was still riddled with deep steam vents, lava tubes, and even active flows that moved beneath the crust of the earth.

The depression’s familiar voice whispered in Sophie’s ear. “Since you’ve got to go, being a sacrifice to the volcano goddess is at least interesting.”

“No.” Sophie muttered aloud, mustering the will to live that always seemed to take so much effort. “No, I won’t die easy. I won’t go quietly. I didn’t survive Assan Ang to be this monster’s plaything.”

“What’s that language you are speaking? Tell me.” Chang prodded her with the tip of the knife again. Her back felt like one of the little satin pillows filled with sandalwood dust that her aunt had used to store sewing needles.

“I was just telling myself that I didn’t survive a sadistic ex-husband who tried to kill me just to become your next statistic.” She could feel by his body heat how close Chang was. Sophie coiled inward and threw herself backward, trying for a body slam. If she could just get him down, she could stomp him . . .

Chang flung himself to the side with a curse, but she’d connected with him enough to make him stagger. The knife left a line of fire on the outside of Sophie’s arm.

“Dammit, bitch! You’re making me work for it.” Sophie heard the sexual excitement in Chang’s voice, in his panting. “You make all the others seem like chopping wood; no fun at all. And this ass.” He grasped her buttock, the rough grab shockingly intimate. “So fine.”

“Foul swine!”Sophie kicked backward.

Chang dodged, and shoved her in the center of the back so that she stumbled forward. “Just a little further, now, babe.”

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