Page 5 of Wired Target

Please help the moli!

Sincerely,

Dr.Danica Powers

Vice President and Chief Biologist, Albatross Sanctuary Maui”

Attached to the e-mail, at the bottom, was a photo of a pair of albatrosses.Their graceful necks were crossed to make a heart shape as they gazed down with obvious grief and loss at an empty nest.

“Oh, that’s just mean,” Lei muttered.“Ow.My heart.”She scrolled to the top of the e-mail but couldn’t find a sender for the forward—it had been blind copied from someone else’s computer at the station.

Lei and her partner Pono Kaihale’s cubicle in the main open area of the building was cluttered, as were all the modular units filling the room.A bulletin board occupied one moveable wall on each side of their old-fashioned computers.

On her bulletin board, Lei had indulged in a small mosaic of family photos that included herself, her husband Stevens, their five-year-old son Kiet, and portraits of their two Rottweilers, Keiki and Conan.An old snapshot of Lei as a teenager with her beloved Auntie Rosario, along with a recent one of her father Wayne and her grandfather Soga, rounded out the collage.

The rest of the corkboard was taken up with wanted posters and news alerts from the Department, per regulations.

Pono’s entire corner, in contrast, was papered with his children Maile and Ikaika’s soccer team photos—both kids were stars in the sport.He’d also given his entire bulletin board over to family snapshots of his statuesque wife Tiare, and the family together.

“Of course, he’s counting on me to keep track of all the departmental bulletins,” Lei muttered.She wasn’t irritated, though; she and Pono had a functional and solid working relationship they had maintained for years.“When one falls down, the other can pick them up,” was a perfect way to summarize their sibling like relationship.

Lei set down the chewed-on Bic and got up to fetch another cup of coffee.Usually, Pono brought her a mug of the department’s strong black brew, but she’d have to get her own today; her partner was out speaking at a middle school about the part police officers play in keeping the community safe.

The employee lounge was empty when Lei found her favorite chipped MPD mug and filled it from the community pot.She dumped in a teaspoon of powdered creamer, stirring vigorously so that the chunks dissolved.“When are they going to fix that good coffee maker Sophie bought us?”Lei mused aloud.

“It’s not actually broken.I put it away because those damn coffee pods are too expensive.”Her boss, Lieutenant CJ Omura, spoke from behind Lei, making her jump.

“Can’t we do a fundraiser or something?Having a good cup of coffee really improves my job performance.”Lei lofted the mug, sniffing audibly.“This stuff literally stinks.”

“I welcome any and all outside donations to that worthy cause.”Omura took down her own mug.“Show me the money.”

“Speaking of worthy causes ...”Lei turned to face her boss ...“I got a sad e-mail from the biologist at the Maui Albatross Sanctuary begging for help with their investigation into three missing live eggs.I was wondering ...”

“No.”Omura clanked her mug down on the counter with a bang.“I’ve already heard about that case, and the answer is no.We have way too many human-related crimes going on to steal resources for something like that.The sanctuary nonprofit has deep pockets.They can afford to pay for a private investigator who will have quality time to dedicate to the mystery of the missing eggs.”Omura splashed coffee into her cup; she was agitated, because some spilled to land on her immaculate dress pants.She swore and scrubbed at the spot with a paper napkin.“Now look what you made me do.”

“You’re just bummed because we don’t have the manpower to help,” Lei said boldly.Years of working with Omura had given her insight into the intimidating “Steel Butterfly” and her boss’s well-hidden soft heart.“You know how I feel about endangered birds.Please let me take this on.I promise I’ll work it during my off-hours.”

“When do you have any off-hours?I recently reviewed your last month’s overtime log, and I don’t want you lying on that report when you’ve got a kid at home to take care of.The answer is no, and that’s final.”Omura stomped out of the lounge, her fancy heels clacking on the lounge’s tiled floor.

Lei stared into her mug thoughtfully.Chunks of powdered creamer were still floating in it, refusing to melt.She procured a wooden stir stick and squashed at them.

She was not at all surprised by Omura’s dictum, nor was she deterred by it.

Themolineeded her help, and they were going to get it.She had been outraged, as had so many of the public, by the terrible attack on the sacred birds at their Ka‘ena Point refuge on Oahu.If there was even a ghost of a chance that the two cases were connected, Lei wanted to be the one to find the link ...and break it.

“With my bare hands, if necessary.”Lei tossed the wooden stirrer into the compostable recycling; that bin and other innovations were new, and due to Omura’s advocacy within the department.

Her boss cared about the environment and its creatures, but Omura was right.Lei and Pono had too many cases they were making little progress on, cases that involved loss of human lives.

Lei’s friend Sophie Smithson would be interested in this case, though, and she was a private investigator.Maybe the Albatross Sanctuary could afford to hire her ...and in any case, reaching out to Sophie would be a good way to find out if there was anything online connecting the theft of missing, live albatross eggs to Oahu’s Moli Massacre.

Lei was long overdue for a chat with her friend, anyway.She headed back to her cubicle with a new spring to her steps.

5

Day 1

Connor, Master of the Yam Khûmk?n, sat before his bank of monitors in the tower room of the jungle fortress.He addressed Devin McDonald, his contact with the CIA, in the video monitor.“I have a new lead on the assassin Pim Wat,” he said.“I’d like to review our amnesty deal in case I have to leave the country in pursuit of her.”

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