Chapter 15 #2
More bullets shredded the wood paneling and the gold embellishments.
When the firing ceased a second time, Rex waited a second, listening.
The creak of hinges made him move in front of the door again.
This time, when he kicked the door, it crashed inward.
A window on the far side of the room stood open. Vaughan was nowhere to be seen.
Rex ran for the window, glad it was long and wide enough for him to squeeze his body through the opening. It emptied onto the deck on the vessel's side, leading toward the bow. Rex followed the sound of footsteps on metal stairs.
He looked up a stairwell in time to see Vaughan reach the deck with the helipad.
The slow, whomping sound of rotors spinning filled the air, along with the roar of the engine.
Rex’s fists clenched.
No. No. No.
Vaughan absolutely could not get away. Kimo’s life depended on his capture and indictment.
Rex took the steps two at a time. As he arrived at the top, the chopper blades whipped wind in his face.
Ducking low beneath the whirling blades, Lucien Vaughan climbed into the aircraft.
With only one chance to stop the man, Rex raced forward and flung himself into the chopper, knocking Vaughan flat on his face.
The helicopter started to rise.
Vaughan kicked at Rex in an attempt to get him out. With no intention of staying, Rex slid backward and snagged Vaughan’s ankle. When his feet hit the ground, Rex held on, letting the helicopter pull away from the man.
Vaughan dropped onto the helipad, landing hard. He lay so still, he must have been knocked out.
When Rex went to flip him onto his back, Vaughan rolled over and pointed a gun at Rex’s chest. “Get up very slowly,” he said. “No sudden moves or my finger slips and boom! Your father gets to bury his only son.”
“You’re done, Vaughan.” Rex straightened. “Your kidnapping, abusing and trafficking days are over.”
“You really have no idea who I am,” Vaughan said as he rose carefully and stood facing Rex, the gun still pointed at his chest. “If you turn me in to the authorities, I’ll be free within hours.”
“It only takes one accomplice with a plea bargain to start the dominoes falling. If Holte is accused of murder, he won’t hesitate to point the finger at the guiltiest one of all.
And you know the old saying that misery loves company?
You might strike the plea bargain yourself to shave some years off your sentence.
Either way, there will be no get out of jail free card for you anymore. ”
Vaughan snorted. “Big talk for a man on the wrong end of a gun barrel.”
The helicopter circled and began descending toward the helipad.
“I’m getting on the helicopter. If you try to stop me, your pretty girlfriend will never see you again.”
“You aren’t going anywhere, Vaughan,” Rex said, praying he was right.
“Watch me.”
The helicopter lowered until the wheels almost touched the pad.
Vaughan stepped backward until the backs of his legs bumped into the door.
Rex braced himself, preparing to lunge forward and drag the bastard out again. Before he could make his move, a shot rang out.
Vaughan’s legs buckled. He twisted and flung himself toward the open door, his body halfway in, his legs hanging out, unable to push himself further in.
Rex turned to locate the source of the gunfire and found Kimo leaning against a wall, the gun in her hand pointing at the helicopter. She unloaded the magazine into the rotor head.
The helicopter landed hard on the helipad. Vaughan slid out and landed on the ground, blood oozing from his leg.
Rex ducked beneath the rotors as they slowly wound to a stop.
Vaughan leaned over, frantically searching the ground for the gun he’d dropped when he’d fallen to the ground. Rex found it before Vaughan and kicked it out of the man’s reach. Then he walked over to pick it up and tuck it into his waistband.
He returned to Vaughan and stared down at the wound on his leg. His first instinct was to let the man bleed out for all the pain and suffering the man had heaped on so many young girls.
Hank’s words echoed in his mind, reminding him that Vaughan’s testimony would help bring to light the extent of his network and the abusers who’d been getting away with child molestation for years.
He ripped one of Vaughan’s sleeves off his arm, none too gently, and tied it around his leg in a tourniquet to slow the bleeding.
When the pilot finally appeared, Rex secured his wrists behind his back and zip-tied his ankles. Then he made him sit beside Vaughan.
With the deck secure, he hurried over to where Kimo sat with her back to the wall, the gun lying on the deck beside her.
“Are you okay?”
She nodded.
“Alana?”
“I left her with Angel and Devlin. She’s bruised, but okay. She’ll be happy when she can go home and get a shower.”
Boats arrived in Kanapou Bay, filling the decks with every branch of law enforcement, including members of the Maui Police Department.
Rex and Kimo stayed where they were to make certain Vaughan didn’t find another way to escape justice.
Hawk and Alana joined them. Alana wore an oversized sweatshirt and sweatpants. Her cheek was still red and starting to turn purple where Vaughan had backhanded her. Despite the bruising, she was smiling. She came to stand beside Kimo and reached for her hand. “I knew you would come for me.”
“We would have come sooner if we’d known where to look,” Kimo said. “It took a minute to figure it out.”
Rex’s mouth twisted. “Have you been on the yacht since they captured you?”
Alana nodded. “They locked me in a room down below.”
“I was on the yacht last night,” Rex said, shaking his head.
Kimo leaned into him, warming his damp wetsuit. “You freed her.”
His lips pressed together. “If I’d known sooner…”
“All that matters is that you found me,” Alana said. “And Vaughan’s going to jail where he belongs.”
Kimo nodded and squeezed her friend’s hand. “Now that it’s over, you can get back to your life and plan your wedding.”
Alana snorted. “Or let the wedding planner do it.”
“The officer from the Maui Police Department told me that Detective Sykes is MIA,” Hawk said.
“Sykes was in the office when they received word Lucien Vaughan had been captured and would be charged with murder. When they went to find him to send him out to investigate, he’d disappeared and wasn’t answering his cell phone.
They have an APB out for him on Maui and at the airport on Oahu. ”
Men arrived flashing credentials from the FBI, Homeland Security and the local emergency medical service.
Rex frowned as the EMTs loaded Vaughan onto a stretcher and carried him down to the dive deck, where a boat waited to take him to the hospital in Kahului.
“Are you sure they’re taking him to the hospital and not to a private plane that will whisk him away to some foreign country?” As slippery as the man was, Rex didn’t feel confident letting him out of his sight.