Page 23 of Wired Target

Torufu grinned, unrepentant.“I shunted the request to your e-mail and look who you brought over to help!Sophie, the techno wonder woman.”He strode over and clapped Sophie on the back.“The birds and I thank you for coming all this way, Sophie.”

“Wait a minute.”Lei put her hands on her hips.“Now we’ve got too many cooks in the kitchen.I want to know why you’re involved with the sanctuary, Abe, and why you dragged me in, too.Omura forbade me to work on this case.”

The big man sobered and folded his arms on his massive chest.His face assumed a remote expression that put Sophie in mind of an Easter Island statue.“Themoliare my‘aumakua.My sacred family ancestral guardian.”

Sophie was aware of the Hawaiian belief in‘aumakuaas family deities; it made sense that as a Polynesian, Torufu shared this belief.

“Why do you need our help, Abe?”she asked.

“We want those eggs back, alive,” Torufu said.“We need more investigators on board.And today, I’ve got a project for us.”He rubbed big hands together in excitement.“Sari and Mahmoud paid for security cameras for the sanctuary, which we’ve needed from the beginning.And since Sophie’s here today, she’ll direct how we install and hook them up to our phones for monitoring.”Torufu turned back and opened the trunk of the cruiser.“Everybody, grab a load of gear boxes, and let’s do this.”

14

Sun beat down on Lei’s head and wind tried to snatch her cap off at the Maui Albatross Sanctuary.Lei glanced over at Sophie, worried about her friend’s response to Torufu’s bold statement about needing help installing surveillance cameras; Abe had really overstepped himself.

But Sophie said nothing about Torufu’s ambush of her time and professional services.Instead, she stepped forward, leaned over into his cruiser’s trunk, and grabbed a heavy-looking metal toolbox and a couple of the surveillance cameras, still in their packaging.“Let’s get going on this project.It’s going to be a bit of work.”

Soon the rest of them had filled their arms with cable wire, photovoltaic battery attachments that would run the cameras, and more boxed camera nodes.Torufu donned the heaviest load of all, a backpack to which he’d strapped two sturdy folding ladders.The little cavalcade moved out from the parking lot to the familiar trail over the dunes.

Lei came abreast of Sophie and handed her an extra water bottle.“I’m sorry.I had no idea Abe was planning to take advantage of your visit like this.”

“If I was offended, I would’ve said so,” Sophie said.“It’s flattering, really.Torufu knows I can get the job done effectively.”

They soon reached the albatross sanctuary area.Unlike its sister reserve on Oahu, the Maui reserve was not open to the public.A heavy padlock and chain locked a gate in the high chain-link fence.Dr.Powers unlocked the portal, and the group filed inside the sanctuary area.

The albatrosses were not visible from where they stood, but the area was thick withnaupakabushes,haole koa, and umbrellalike heliotrope trees, all typical growth in sandy areas of Hawaii.

“I hope you bought enough cameras and cable and batteries,” Mahmoud Gadish said.“But if not, we’ll pay for more.”

“Hopefully I brought all we’ll need.I thought we should place two camera nodes near the gate,” Torufu said.“One on either side.But we need to install them along the entire length of the fence, to be honest.Perpetrators could use wire cutters and come in anywhere.Sophie, are you familiar with this brand of security camera?Can you tell us its range and where we should position them?”

Lei watched as Sophie examined the specifics on the carboard box she held.“I’m familiar with this device.We need to put one about every fifty feet along the fence, unless you want to double the length and just try to catch someone who might not notice them,” Sophie said.“You have twenty cameras here, each with a solar battery.We’ll need to run the cable to connect the cameras all along the top of the fence.This project would go best if those who are not installing move ahead along the fence line and cut back the brush, so that we can gain access with the ladders.”

Lei frowned at Torufu.“Have you measured how long the fence is?”

“Yep.We should have enough to do most of it,” Torufu said.Everyone scattered to their individual tasks.

Lei, Sophie, and Torufu worked on the specifics of installing the cameras.Sophie wired each node to the posts at the top of the fence, installing their solar batteries, and then handed the power cable to Torufu to unspool.Lei used the second ladder to secure the cable to the top of the fence with plastic zip ties.

The three board members, equipped with pruning tools, moved along the fence ahead of them, clearing the overgrown brush so that the team could reach the fence.It was hot, tiring work; the sun would have been merciless if not for steady onshore winds blowing in from the sea.Even so, Lei enjoyed doing something physical outdoors for a change.

A loud hum distracted them; Lei glanced up to see a large black drone headed their way.She poked Abe on his rock-hard shoulder.“I thought those flying menaces weren’t allowed in the sanctuary area.”

“They aren’t.”The three investigators, temporarily near the bottom of Sophie’s ladder to unwrap a new camera and battery, watched the approach of the buzzing craft.

Sophie narrowed her eyes, sheltering them with a hand.“That’s a weaponized version!I recognize the model.”

“What the hell is something like that doing out here?”Torufu exclaimed.

“I don’t know, but it can’t be good,” Sophie said.“Everyone, take cover!”

“Get down!”Lei shouted, reaching for her police issue Glock.“That means you, Dr.Powers!”The intrepid biologist stood with her binoculars to her eyes, apparently trying to find out more about the incoming device.

Sari and Mahmoud, nearest Sophie, crouched beneath the ladder as Sophie descended the last few rungs and jumped to the ground.Lei crouched behind a boulder, tracking the drone with her weapon as it continued to approach.

The device was larger than any she’d seen, about the size of a large-sized pizza—but there the resemblance ended.Square, with four heavy-duty propellers at its corners, the thing resembled a miniature helicopter more than any other recreational flying device she’d ever seen.

The drone was twenty or so feet away when it emitted a sudden spitting sound.

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