Chapter 4 #3
She quickly logged onto her cloud storage and waited for all the files to appear.
And waited...
Nothing came up. No files. No photos. No documents.
“What the—” She logged off and started over, keying in her username and password.
Again, the screen remained empty of the files she’d so meticulously organized with all the photos she’d taken for the past ten years.
“This can’t be right,” she said, her heart in her throat. “Something must be wrong with my storage provider.”
“Why do you say that?” Rex came to stand behind her, looking over her shoulder at the empty screen.
“My files. My photos. They’re not here. Everything’s gone.” She looked up a phone number for the data storage company and held out her hand toward Rex. “May I borrow your cell phone?”
He laid it in her palm. “What are you going to do?”
“I’m going to call and see if they’re having technical difficulties that could keep me from accessing my data.” She entered the numbers and placed the call.
Five minutes later, after working with their technical support, she ended the call and stared at the empty screen, her heart sinking to the pit of her belly. “It’s gone. Ten years of work...”
Gone.
Rex laid his hands on her shoulders and pulled her back gently until she leaned into him.
“Are you certain you entered your username and password correctly?” the detective asked.
“Yes,” Kimo said. “I logged in twice, and the tech support person verified. The files are gone.”
“Does that mean the photos you took yesterday are gone as well?” the detective asked.
She nodded, stunned and heartsick. “Everything. My laptop stored a lot of the images, and my desktop had copies of everything except what I took last night.”
“And both computers are gone,” Rex said.
The detective grunted. “I guess you don’t have the proof we need that there was a shipping container filled with dead people.”
“But they were there,” she insisted.
“If they really are, the Coast Guard should find them. If not... I’m sorry. With no bodies, no photos and no other witnesses, it’s hard to dedicate resources to investigate it.”
Kimo frowned at the detective. “And Alana? A live woman I witnessed being abducted. Are you going to shelve that investigation as well?”
“We’re looking into it.” The detective reached for the laptop. “Again, until we know more, don’t leave Maui.”
“And where would I go?” She raised her hands, palms up. “This is my home.”
“We’ll be in touch,” the detective said and left the house.
Kimo shook her head from side to side, trying and failing to absorb it all.
“My life’s work has been wiped clean, along with the digital proof that there were dead people chained to a shipping container at the bottom of Maalaea Bay.
The equipment I used in my business is gone.
I’ll have to postpone the work I had scheduled, lose contracts and disappoint customers.
Worst of all, my friend is missing. What now? ”
“I don’t know, but that detective doesn’t appear to be in a hurry to find your friend or that shipping container.” Rex ran his hand over the stubble on his chin, his eyes narrowing thoughtfully. Then he nodded as if agreeing with himself. “I have an idea.”
“Good,” Kimo said, “because all I’m coming up with is doing the job ourselves. If we can’t get the Maui PD working on finding Alana, we can’t just sit around and wait.”
Rex nodded. “That was where my idea was heading.” He paced across the floor. “We have access to a computer guru who makes hackers look like amateurs. I’ll contact him and see if he can find backups of your online storage, including the images you uploaded before the attackers stole the boat.”
Kimo’s eyes widened. “He can do that?”
Rex shrugged. “I can’t guarantee anything, but if it can be done, he’s our man.”
“If he can get the images I took of the shipping container, there might be some form of identification on it.”
Rex nodded. “We might be able to track its origin.” Rex’s brow wrinkled. “You say you rented the boat?”
“I did, from Jako’s Diving Adventures. I need to contact Jako and let him know about the boat.”
“Let’s check with him and see if the boat has turned up or if he had a tracker on it,” Rex suggested. “Do you have his number?”
“I’d rather give him the news in person,” Kimo said.
“Are you sure you’re up to it?” Rex asked.
Kimo drew in a deep breath and let it out. “I have to be.”
“And I’ll check with my boss. He sent some of the team we have on Maui to search the waters around Maalaea Bay. I’d like to know if they found anything.”
Kimo glanced out the front window as a Maui PD cruiser rolled into her driveway. “Did the detective forget something?”
Rex came to stand beside her as a uniformed policeman stepped out of the vehicle.
Kimo’s lips pressed together. “Maybe Sykes sent him to actually investigate the break-in.”
“Let’s hope he knows what he’s doing,” Rex said. “I’m not convinced Sykes does.”
“I hope he makes it fast. I feel like the longer we wait to search for Alana,” Kimo swallowed hard before continuing, “the less chance we have of finding her.”