|
My Kind of Town Don Chapman |
Help is coming
>> North Shore
They were in his Durango, turning off the highway just past the shrimp ponds, and Lono Oka'aina was trying to explain to Raydean Gonsalves why he couldn't take her to the ranch house but he could take her to the ranch, at least a remote part of it that would give her a view of the whole spread.
"The thing is, Raydean, honestly, times came hard. No more cattle -- it was costing more to raise 'em than what I got paid.
So, no more cattle, no more paniolo. Plus the property taxes was overdue. So when this Japanese guy shows up, says his hunting club wants to rent the place for two weeks to hunt exotic species and offers me enough money to pay the taxes and open the stable I been dreaming about ..."
"Tell me about your plans for the stables."
Lono's cell rang then. The caller was HPD Detective Sherlock Gomes, who said he'd spoken to Jake Peepers, P.I., who'd told him about his conversation with Lono. Gomes asked for directions to the Rockin' Pikake Ranch.
"I'm on my way there now. You can follow me, but we cannot go in the main way."
"You can't, maybe," Gomes said. "I'm going there looking for you." Gomes was just leaving Haleiwa when he jotted down Lono's directions to the ranch.
Then, on another of hunch, he called HPD dispatch and asked for a chopper fly-over of the Rockin' Pikake in the hills above Kahuku.
At the Rockin' Pikake, help was coming for Shauny Nakamura and the others. The question was, would it come soon enough.
As she and the college boy and the teen-age Filipina ran through 'ohia forest, Shauny had another question.
"By the way, I'm Shauny! Who're you?!"
"Royce!"
"Imelda!"
"Nice to meet you! Let's stay in touch when this is over!"
The terrain grew rockier and steeper here, and they paused to catch their breath. Looking back, Shauny saw three mounted men down the slope watching them through binoculars.
One of the men was Victor, who'd drugged her during lunch at Turtle Bay and brought her here. He carried a very large hunting rifle. With him was an Arab dressed in flowing gowns. A large curved sword hung at his side. Another man was dressed like Crocodile Dundee and held a long whip in one hand.
"That's Clive!" Royce said. "The Aussie who brought me here!"
The men spurred their horses and raced up the hill.
Shauny and her new friends turned and ran, but there was no way even Shauny, as fit as she was, could out-run horses, and soon she heard Victor calling her name, taunting. Still she ran, dragging the others with her.
Don Chapman is editor of MidWeek.
His serialized novel runs daily in the Star-Bulletin
with weekly summaries on Sunday.
He can be e-mailed at dchapman@midweek.com