Chapter 9
The next morning, Mathilda was in the midst of packing her backpack for her trip to the pittosporum patch when someone said, “Knock knock,” outside the door of her tent.
She unzipped it to find Lincoln standing outside the plywood platform on which her tent was perched.
He wore a gray t-shirt that set off his dark features, along with a serious, almost worried expression.
Her heart gave a little surprise flip. Very annoying.
“What’s up? Is everything okay with your pilot?”
Everyone else had already left for the day, except for Robert, who’d been gone since yesterday.
“Yeah, he’s fine. I mean, he’s the same. He was actually muttering things in his sleep last night. That seems like a good sign.”
She waited for Lincoln to explain why he was outside her tent. “Then what is it?”
“Don’t go on this trip,” he blurted. “At least, not yet. You just got shot at yesterday. What if that drone comes back? Or something even worse?”
Her eyes widened at the idea of “something worse.” What would that be? Trained assassins?
“I’m not going anywhere near the crash site. The pittosporum is a completely different direction. I don’t see why there’d be drones patrolling it, unless they’re monitoring endangered Hawaiian flora?” She smiled at him whimsically, but he didn’t smile back.
He glanced around the empty camp, as if looking for ninjas sneaking in from the jungle. “Just in case, I don’t think you should go alone. There are people out there who wish me ill.”
“Isn’t the key word, you?” She tucked her hair behind her ears. High winds were in the forecast, and she could already feel the first gusts. “As far as I know, I have no enemies coming after me. I guess it’s a good thing I’m a broke graduate student.”
“Yes, but you’re now associated with me and that puts you at risk.
I realized that those drones might have also been recording video,” he explained.
“If someone is after me, they’ve probably now identified you as a potential target to get to me.
Maybe I’m being paranoid, but I just think it would be better if you didn’t do anything alone for the time being. ”
She stared at him for a long moment, looking for the joke, or the come-on, or the hidden agenda. Those little winks of his, those shared glances, the prickling of her skin when she was in his presence all added up to “sparks.” Was this a ploy to spend some time with her?
“Are you saying you want to come with me?”
“No.” He shook his head. “I can’t leave the camp. No one else is here to keep an eye on Rory. I just…think you should hold off on this trip. Just until someone can go with you.”
Her heart melted a little bit. “Are you really worried about me? That’s very sweet. I mean, a little patronizing, but sweet. I’ve been out here for a month now, and it’s my fifth time staying at this camp. I know my way around this jungle.”
Looking frustrated, he ran a hand across the back of his neck. “I’m not trying to insult you, I promise. Last night, I couldn’t stop thinking about that drone firing at you. If I was responsible for you getting hurt…sorry, but I just couldn’t live with myself.”
Those lush dark eyes of his drew her in. She actually found herself leaning forward, as if she was about to kiss him. There was something so endearing about his concern for her. “But what about Hector?”
“Hector…” He tilted his head. “I mean, Hector’s a crow, right?”
“He’s not just a crow!” She took a step back from him, outraged by that statement.
“We’ve been trying to bring the ‘alalā back for decades. On Maui, they finally managed to do it. They actually have thirty of them living in an area with no hawks. But here on the Big Island we keep failing. That’s why I’m trying here, in an area where it hasn’t been attempted yet.
” She could go on and on about ‘alalā restoration work, and would have, except that people quickly got sick of that topic.
“Go on,” he said, surprising her. “Tell me more.”
“Well…the ‘alalā are endemic to Hawaii, meaning they don’t exist anywhere else in the world. In Hawaiian culture, they’re revered and considered to be spiritual guardians and protectors.
They represent a connection to the forest and that’s one reason this work is so important.
It’s about restoring ancestral connections to the land, the malama. ”
“But they’re extinct, you said?”
“They’re listed as endangered, but they’ve been extinct in the wild since 2002.
They’re only bred in captivity at this point, and that’s not easy.
Each mating pair needs its own aviary. Some pairs end up not being compatible.
Some are infertile, some are too inbred.
And some of the males are less than cooperative. ”
“Dating, am I right?” Rory quipped.
She gave him a pass on that one, since it was kind of funny.
“Anyway, Hector is a wonderful bird. Very smart, very playful. The ‘alalā are social birds, quite loud and expressive, with a lot of different sounds and calls, some of which sound almost human. They’re medium sized, a muted black color, with unique throat feathers, grayish at the tips. They mate for the long term, but poor Hector’s mate didn’t survive being reintroduced. ”
Rory nodded a few times as he absorbed that torrent of ‘alalā information. “Okay, so Hector’s a very important crow, I get that now. But isn’t your life more important?”
Her life? Her eyes widened. It was hard to believe that this situation could be so dire, but she’d seen the bullets coming from that drone herself. He was right that someone was defending the crash site. That, she didn’t doubt. But would they really take it any further than that?
“Can you give me some hint as to why someone would be doing this?”
He gave a helpless shrug of his shoulders. “Take your pick. There was that lawsuit Bjorn mentioned. I’m sure there are others.”
“You’re sure? You don’t know?”
“I’m a busy man. My lawyers only tell me what I absolutely need to know.”
She crossed her arms across her chest and scrutinized him, up and down.
“I hate to go just by appearances, but you don’t strike me as a bad guy.
You made us dinner last night. You’re sticking by your pilot.
You saved me from that drone. Don’t you think you’re being a little paranoid?
Maybe,” she jerked her chin at his head, “you’re not thinking clearly since the crash? ”
He let out a heavy sigh and glanced up at the sky, as if looking for help from the fluffy flock of clouds capering across the brilliant blue. When he met her eyes again, he seemed to have made a decision.
“I’m not a nice guy. I’m a jerk. The world of international finance is cutthroat as hell.
Just off the top of my head, I can think of at least ten people I screwed out of their companies.
That’s a conservative estimate. Then there are the people who worked for those companies.
That increases the potential grudges against me exponentially.
I haven’t even talked about the competitors whose bids were rejected in favor of mine, or the contractors I’ve underpaid, or the staff members I’ve ignored or mistreated. ”
“Wow.” She blinked at him. “That’s a lot of people who have a reason to hate you.”
He flinched, but managed a smile. “Now you’re getting my point. So many people could be trying to find me, with so many reasons to want revenge.”
Poor guy. Okay, so he was a jerk. It was hard to argue when someone claimed that description for themselves.
But still, for some weird reason, her heart went out to him.
He just looked so very miserable as he was telling her what a bad person he was.
“Maybe you should think about reforming yourself. What a terrible way to go through life, with so many enemies.”
“You’re completely right.” He agreed fervently and instantly. “No question. As soon as all this is over, I’m going to change my evil, exploitative ways. Now will you agree to stick close to the camp today?”
He’d convinced her already, but she saw an opportunity to tease him a bit. “Do you think I’m safe with such a dangerous person as yourself? If so many people hate you, how can I be sure I’m not safer out there with the wild pigs and the menehune and the drones?”
His lips twitched. “Put it this way. If you have a startup that might be worth billions someday, it’s not safe with me around. Other than that, you’re good.”
She gave in, partially because he looked so good standing there in the sunshine. Maybe a day off wouldn’t be so bad. “All right. I’ll trust you on this one. I’ll postpone my pittosporum trip until later. But you have to do me a favor in return.”
“In return for what? Staying safe?”
“Doing what you want instead of what I want, which is to wrap up this phase of my research and get back to Hilo.”
“Deal.” He reached up a hand to shake hers. The warm, rough surface of his palm sent a shiver through her. “What do you need? If it’s crow-related, I probably don’t have much to offer.”
“It’s not. I need to do some laundry before I head home. It’s a lot easier with two people.”
“Okay….” His forehead wrinkled in confusion. “What’s involved with doing laundry out here? Do you have to beat it against the rocks or something?”
“It’s not that bad. I’ll show you.”
She went back into her tent and gathered up her load of dirty clothes—filthy would be more accurate. After handing him her laundry basket to carry, she led him to the washing machine, which was situated under a metal roof that some long-ago camp resident had set up near the solar array.
The system was absurdly complex. One person had to hold the hose inside the washing machine while the other opened the valve spigot, which came from the catchment tank about fifty yards away.
Once it was filled, and soap added, someone had to sit on the machine to keep it from vibrating right off its platform.