Page 36 of Deadly Aloha
I turned to Hiro. “What do you know about Nishi?”
“I found the security footage from the night of her abduction,” they answered, nodding to the tablet by Tangaloa’s hip. My new VP picked up the device to take a look. “Lu and Nishi were at a bar on Waikiki. A man approached them. He was not wearing a BSMC cut, but I was able to confirm he was the one you killed at the storage yard,” they added to me. “He spent some time flirting with Lu and Nishi, though mostly Nishi. Around midnight, Lu took anUberback to her apartment while Nishi got on the back of the Bloody Scorpion’s motorcycle. Unfortunately, that’s where I lost her. I was able to obtain footage from an ATM and two store security cameras that showed them riding north, but that was it.
“All of the footage from the storage facility for the night Nishi disappeared as well as the night we were there has also been scrubbed. I’m still looking to see if I can find the footprint of who did it, but my focus has been on hacking into the Coast Guard’s records to see if the boat Virgil saw was spotted on any of their buoys, sensors, or ships so we can identify it.” They looked to Lu. “I’m working as fast as I can. I promise.”
Lu nodded solemnly. “Mahalo, Hiro.”
Red piped up then. “I’ve been working with Hiro to help lighten hi—shit,theirload.” His cheeks flamed. “Sorry.” To my surprise, Hiro just waved off the slip of the tongue. I didn’t know if that was good or bad for Red. “Anyway, I’ve tracked the truck, but unfortunately, the Bloody Scorpions ditched it. And set it on fire. Yooko was not happy when I spoke to him.”
“So we don’t know where the Bloody Scorpions who got away are or where the heroin is?” Tangaloa asked. As harsh as his question was, I knew he still agreed with my decision to let the truck go. Lu’s life had been in the balance, and six additional Bloody Scorpions to fight could have meant one of us didn’t walk away from such a battle.
When Red glanced my way, his expression turned worried. “No. Not by following the lead we had, anyway.”
“I have to put the word out,” I told him, rubbing a hand up and down Lu’s back. I didn’t want her to feel any guilt over my decision. “Make sure people know about the club as well as to keep an eye out for the Bloody Scorpions.”
“Will they tell you?” Aftermath asked, skeptical.
“We’rekama?aina,” I reminded him. “They won’t want the Bloody Scorpions here anymore than we do.” I looked to Hiro. “Usual contacts. Make sure they know I’m back in play but I’m my own man now.”
“Kahoku isn’t going to like that,” Hiro muttered as they started typing on their laptop again. “He’s been trying to get you back for years.”
Lu stiffened on my lap. The last time I’d done a mission for Kahoku, I’d nearly been shot in the head. She didn’t know that specific detail, though now she knew it had been Jameson who’d saved my life. I increased the pressure of my backrub.
“He’ll have to get over it,” I said sternly.
“We’re going to need to talk money soon too,” Tangaloa muttered. “Finding Nishi might be the easy part. Getting her back is going to take resources we don’t yet have.”
“Sometimes clubs absorb their members’ businesses,” Red offered. “Who owns this farm?”
I did not look at Tangaloa as I said, “I do, though technically my sister is also on the deed.”
Red nodded, his eyes shifting like his brain was taking notes. “What about the porn business?”
“That’s me.” Because I’d never taken her name off of the paperwork, Lu was still listed as a business partner. She’d been with me at the start. It hadn’t felt right to remove her even after she left me. Once I’d gotten the business out of the red, I continued to put money away for her. As far as the IRS wasconcerned, it was all my salary, but it went into an account in her name. “I also own a surf shop.”
“How big? You’re going to need something with high turnaround that you can clean money in.”
I shook my head. “It’s too small. A shack, really. Just a place for the locals to get some supplies through.”
“What aboutShakaloha?” Tangaloa asked, looking at me.
My eyebrows went up. “You still shipping through him?”
Tangaloa nodded. “And he’s looking to expand to the Mainland.”
“You run guns through Janko?” Lu asked, her voice aghast. “And here I thought he was one of the few around here who wasn’t corrupted.”
Most of us chuckled. Tangaloa shrugged, the picture of innocence. “It’s a good deal. He gets free security and I get free beer.”
“What isShakaloha,” Aftermath asked, “and why do I know that name?”
Tangaloa, Lu, Hiro, and I all made the shaka hand signal, holding up our thumb and pinky finger on one hand, before putting our thumb to our mouth and chugging back like we were taking a swig of a longneck. “Howzit!”
Red and Aftermath looked at us like we’d all lost our minds.
“Local brewery,” I explained. “Its owner is a Jamaican named Janko and a friend.”
Red blinked like he was clearing his head. “Well, if he’s already helping you move your guns,” he said to Tangaloa, “it doesn’t hurt to ask him to help you clean your money, too.”
