Page 65 of Wired Target

Ichiban, Lei’s favorite little hole-in-the-wall restaurant, was only a few minutes away.The staff knew them, so in mere moments Lei was scooping savory saimin noodles into her mouth as Torufu did the same across the table from her.

“How’s Sophie doing?”Torufu asked.

“Lotta drama going on in her personal life.”Lei filled Torufu in with a thumbnail sketch of the events of the day.

“Holy ...no wonder you were eager to get home!”The Tongan’s eyes went comically round.“Glad you’re back in one piece!”

“Me too.”Lei set her empty bowl aside and waved for the check.“Let’s get over to the airport and take down some egg-nappers.”

Torufu showed Lei the student photos of the two Paradise Preparatory Academy boys that had stolen eggs from the sanctuary.“The buyer is from overseas.My guess is, the boys will collect their payment, then hand over the eggs.But I don’t know where they’re meeting, exactly.”

With the help of the airport personnel, the two detectives positioned themselves near the check-in area for cargo.

Lei pretended to be a bored local girl, kicking a slipper-clad foot, as she waited with a large, string-wrapped fake package on her lap.

Torufu got behind the weighing counter and, beside one of the service people, pretended to be a loader, hefting boxes onto a trolley.

Lei scanned the comings and goings of customers and staff, watching for a pair of teen boys.

When the perps showed up, it was suddenly: one moment the entry area was empty, the next two teens in low-slung pants, carrying between them a large red-and-white plastic cooler with a bungee cord around it, approached from the parking lot.

Both wore sunglasses and pulled-down ball caps, so their faces were hard to make out—but Lei felt sure these were the kids whose pictures she’d seen.

The pair approached Torufu at the cargo check-in counter.“Can you hold this back here for us?”the taller boy asked Torufu.He extended a hand holding a bill folded between his fingers.“Just for a few minutes.We’re trying to decide if we’re going to ship this or not.”

Torufu gave a toothy smile and waved away the bribe.“No problem.”He took the cooler carefully and set it behind the counter, exchanging a humorous glance with Lei.“I’ll take good care of it.”

The boys turned and walked toward the open bay leading to the tarmac.

Approaching from the aircraft area was a short, older Asian man wearing a fishing hat pulled down over sunglasses and a loud aloha shirt covered in parrots.“You boys know where I can see some unique sights?”he asked.

“Sure,” the bigger kid said.“I’ve got a few ideas.”The pair led the parrot-covered man over to the shadows, talking intently.

Lei frowned, glancing at Torufu.When should they make a move?So far, nothing incriminating had happened, and truth was, she couldn’t make a positive ID on the kids without being able to see their faces more clearly.

But then something hidden in a folded newspaper changed hands.The three of them turned and headed back to the shipping desk.“We’ll take our cooler now,” Tall Boy said.

“Nope.”Torufu lifted his badge and held it up.“Maui Police Department.You’re all under arrest.”

Both boys froze, then ran for the entrance.The buyer spun and ran for the runway area.

“You get the kids, you’re faster!”Torufu yelled, exploding out from behind the counter to chase the man in the parrot shirt.

Lei was already on her feet and moving, having tossed the hat and box the minute the boys bolted.She bellowed in her best cop voice: “Stop!Police!”

But the teens didn’t stop, and at the entrance they split and headed in opposite directions.

Lei chose the taller boy who’d done the talking.She poured on speed, glad she still ran on a regular basis and always wore her athletic shoes.

The kid hadn’t done that.Hampered by ill-fitting, loose pants and a pair of lug sole boots that must have been fashionable somewhere, the boy was slower than he should have been.He tried to lose her by dodging in and out of traffic as he headed for the parking lot.Lei overtook him on the sidewalk and shoved him between the shoulder blades with enough force to send him sprawling.

Once he was down, she landed on his back with a knee and pulled his arms up, cuffing him and reciting the Miranda warning as she did so.

When the boy got his breath back, she helped him up and shepherded him back to the shipping area, where she met Torufu on the sidewalk with his prize, the buyer in the aloha shirt—and handcuffs.

Torufu called Dr.Powers from the Maui Albatross Sanctuary after checking that the eggs, carefully wrapped inside the cooler with a battery-powered heat source near them, were unharmed.

They took the perps back through the cargo area, enjoying a bit of applause from the employees, and put the two in the back of a cruiser to ride downtown for booking.They sent a uniform to look for the other boy at his house, then got back into the truck and headed to the Maui Albatross Sanctuary to meet the biologist and return the eggs to their parent birds.

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