Chapter 31 The Reckoning #2
This could all be for nothing—she knew that, and she tried not to get her hopes up. One of her defense mechanisms. If you prepare for the bad, you’ll never be disappointed. Only it didn’t work that way. Instead, it made unwanted outcomes live in her head for much longer than they needed to.
“I’m scared,” she whispered to Luke.
He reached out and fumbled for her hand. “Imagine what you want, not what you don’t want. It’s my new mantra.”
They were sitting on the bow and Nalu pointed out constellations the Hawaiians used for celestial navigation. Some were the
same as the ones Minnow knew—the Pleiades were called Makali‘i and the Big Dipper was known as Na Hiku, for the seven stars that made it up.
“When the Makali‘i rises in the east, it’s the start of the Hawaiian new year,” he told them.
A few minutes later, she heard a faint buzzing and her whole body lit up.
“A boat,” she said, loud enough for the others to hear.
No lights were visible yet and the guys were all mumbling excitedly.
“Where?” someone called out.
“Near the shore.”
They all went silent again, and soon running lights appeared in the direction of Pāpapa.
Luke squeezed her hand. “It’s them.”
“Gotta be,” Nalu added.
They all sat quietly as Minnow counted her breaths, trying to slow them down. She could smell the boat as it drew near. Fish
and blood and rankness. It made her head swim. When the Radon got up to the buoy, a bright light flashed on. The shark cage
sat precariously on the back. Minnow shrunk back, sure that if the people on the boat looked their way, they’d see them. But
they were all business. Two men and a woman.
The driver began shouting orders and they lowered the cage into the water. The woman then lay on the deck with a big pole
and looped a rope around what must have been the buoy. The guy next to her slid into the water briefly, holding a spear. All
of them oblivious to what surrounded them. When the guy got back in the boat, he and the woman started dumping out buckets
into the ocean.
“Game on,” Nalu said quietly.
Behind them Minnow heard the birdcall, and off to the side another.
The signal. This moment was everything she had come here for, and a feeling of love for the guys with her welled up.
In an instant all three boats started their motors and turned on the blue lights Kamaki had given them.
Minnow’s job was to tear the duct tape off the running lights, which she did with lightning speed.
Cliff pointed a strobe light into the driver’s eyes.
“Stay where you are,” Kamaki said through a bullhorn.
The guy and girl whipped the buckets down, and the driver held an arm over his eyes and ducked away from the helm.
“Chumming within three miles from shore is illegal. You are breaking the law,” Kamaki shouted.
The boats were closing in now, and Minnow caught sight of Cliff standing up on the bow holding a three-prong spear. He looked
like a fierce warrior with an aura of ancient grace. She then glanced at the boat driver of the Radon and saw that he was
starting up the boat again.
“They’re going to make a run for it,” she said to Luke.
“I’d love to see ’em try.”
They were within earshot now and Cliff yelled, “Turn off your engine. We have you surrounded and I promise, brah, you don’t
want to mess with us.”
The driver paused and Minnow could see the gears of his mind churning, but he stepped away from the helm and the engine sputtered.
All three of them were lined up, squinting, unsure where to look and wondering who their adversaries were. No one had said
police, but the blue lights were suggestive.
Nalu bounced up and down, excited. “Red-fucking-handed.”
Cliff’s and Woody’s boats pulled up alongside the Radon and Nalu pulled in front of the bow a little ways off.
“What, you gonna arrest us? I want to see your badges,” the driver said.
Kamaki held up a badge, but never did he touch the gun in his holster.
“So, what, you chumming and doing shark dives? Bringing tourists out?” Cliff said.
“So what? We’re not bothering anyone. This is boonies, man.”
Beer-bellied and a lot older than the other two, he seemed to be the ringleader. His pale, blotchy skin had seen better days.
“Tell that to the three people who were attacked by a shark recently just down the coast. You’ve got blood on your hands.
All of you,” Woody said in a cutting voice.
While the brothers and Kamaki were busy with that, Minnow began snapping photos, zeroing in on the culprits’ faces, the boat
name, and the fish parts and blood in the water. Luke held the light for her since sunrise was still a long ways off.
“And now, because of your stupidity, every shark along this coast is in danger. All those sharks that you feed and your customers
swim with will be brutally pulled out of the water and killed. You ever stop to think about that?” Cliff said.
Of course not every shark would be caught, but even one was too many.
The three of them just stood there, blank-faced, mute.
Luke nudged Minnow gently. “Ten o’clock. Fin.”
Minnow looked out into the darkness behind the boat and saw a tall fin making a smooth arc through the water. It was too dark
to tell what kind it was, but whatever it was, it was very large. Leave, Minnow called out in her mind.
Cliff pounded the dull side of his spear onto the boat next to him. “This is how it’s going to go from here on. We take your
cage and you will never, ever chum in these waters again. Our eyes are everywhere, on land and in the water. If you disrespect
the ‘āina again, we will not be so forgiving. Consider this fair warning.”
Kamaki pointed at the driver. “You, what’s your name?”
“Alex.”
“Last name.”
He muttered something under his breath, then said, “Dickerson.”
Minnow burned their names into memory.
Kamaki, who had been holding on to the side of their boat, let go. “We have photos, and DLWA will be paying you a visit. Now
get out of here.”
Alex gave him a smug look. “Go ahead.”
“Not just DLWA, but the Feds too.”
This time Alex glanced at the girl, and Minnow saw real fear in their eyes. So they weren’t scared of the DLWA, but they were
of the Feds. It gave Minnow pause. Of course Kamaki was bluffing, but they didn’t know that.
“Brah, that cage was expensive. You can’t take it,” Alex said.
“We can and we will.”
Cliff pointed to shore. “The harm you have caused is irreversible. Now go.”
Alex looked like he was dying to say something more, but Woody and Dean and Liloa had closed in on them and stood in solidarity
with Cliff. Alex started the motor and sped off toward Pāpapa Bay.
The three boats floated for a while, no one saying anything. Luke found Minnow’s hand and squeezed.
“Sometimes you can’t undo the wrongs of others, but I’d say this is a darn good start,” he said.
Minnow squeezed back, thankful to no longer feel alone in this. She’d found her tribe in the last place she would have expected.
But that was life wasn’t it? One minute you were swimming alone, the next you had a big, beautiful shiver of sharks alongside
you.