Chapter 14
Chapter Fourteen
Bacon’s house looked like a transit station filled with the homeless.
Lu, Pua, and I had one of the guest rooms, Tangaloa had another, and we let the rest duke it out for who got the remaining beds or had to sleep on various furniture.
No one was surprised when Neo got a room all to themself.
Bacon’s rule was that the sex dungeon was off limits, because he didn’t want any of their grubby little hands all over his little owl’s things.
I tried all yesterday to get ahold of my sister. One would think she’d be concerned about her baby by now, but she’d moved onto a new motel at a new resort. I was pissed enough that I sent the twins to retrieve her, not giving her an option about coming back.
Normally I would send Spirit on a retrieval like that, but I needed him here.
The twins did not know Kahoku, nor had they ever worked for him.
Lucifer knew the name, as did Saga and Tick.
Because I wanted Saga here so we still had an unbiased record of the meeting we were about to have, I sent Tick and Lucifer to Rory’s boat to see what they could find.
Lu, Pua, and Holly were upstairs in the house’s movie theater. I was not calling this meeting Church, since I had some missing members. Just an unofficial meeting that had a lot of resemblances to Church.
Once the women and Pua were situated upstairs with a large breakfast buffet, I called the not-Church meeting to order.
“We have reason to believe Kahoku is the Bloody Scorpions’ new heroin dealer.
” The disbelief around the room was palpable.
Before the arguments could start, though, I held up my hands to stop them.
“I know. I don’t understand it either, but how else would a Bloody Scorpion even know Kahoku’s name?
Even the police only refer to him as ‘Lapu’.
” It meant ghost, an apparition, because no one ever seemed to be able to find him.
They thought Kahoku was sitting in some hidden place giving orders, not realizing that he was always right there in the thick of things, getting his hands dirty like the rest of us.
It took a lot to earn my respect, but Kahoku had it almost from the beginning.
He was honorable and he shared the same values I did in wanting to protect our people and our way of life.
We might be Americans by definition, but we were of the Kānaka ?ōiwi, the bones of our ancestors, first and always.
Bacon was the only one in the room who looked confused. “Who is Kahoku?”
Tangaloa looked up at the high living room ceiling.
When he spoke, his words were clipped, like he didn’t want to say them but felt he had to.
“He’s an activist. We’ve all worked with him, taught a lot of us the things we know.
He’s very vocal about the fact that we’re Pacific Islanders, not Americans.
We will never be Americans. The haole may come and put their flag in our sands, but they will never take our spirit.
He protects our islands and our way of life.
With his help, we’ve gone after large corporations, oil companies, western farmers, and,” he gave me a sharp look, “drug dealers.”
Bacon glanced around the room, as if trying to get a read on all of us. “You all admire him.” He didn’t say it as a slight, but factual. “In the simplest explanation, he’s your mentor.”
“Well, we never called him ‘Daddy’,” Neo quipped, “but yeah.”
A few of us chucked at Neo’s joke, but it was dry, stilted. To Bacon, I said, “He calls drugs ‘haole poison’. I got out of the game years ago, but I took out a lot of dealers and distribution centers while working for him.”
Bacon nodded slowly, scratching his chin. “In a twisted, fucked up way, him being a dealer makes sense.”
As others started to protest, I put my teeth to my lips and let out a loud whistle.
“This is a controversial topic, and a personal one. We aren’t going to get anywhere if we all start arguing at once.
Bacon has an outside perspective and the brain of a cop.
That’s why he’s here.” The others settled down.
I gave them another second before I turned back to Bacon, “Why do you say that?”
“It’s unfortunate, but a pattern I’ve seen before. Some of the biggest advocates against a crime are actually behind the biggest crimes themselves. It’s not always, and I’m not saying all who fight for a cause have a hidden agenda, but it’s common enough that it’s not a surprise anymore.”
“You’re saying he used us,” Spirit said, his jaw tight. “To take out his competition?”
Bacon shrugged, “I’m saying it makes sense, but yes.”
Tangaloa, though, shook his head. “It doesn’t actually.
There are a lot of dealers on the islands.
And not just H. Meth, cocaine, X, opioids…
” He tallied off on his fingers. “The Bloody Scorpions just got here. They’re the new kids on the block.
If,” he emphasized strongly, “Kahoku is dealing, why would he work with the Bloody Scorpions? They’re not even small fish at this point. They’re the algae small fish eat.”
“That I don’t have an answer for, but the rest…” Bacon let the sentence trail off.
I turned to Neo, who had taken position in the living room’s sex swing again. Thankfully Pua was too young to ask questions about it, though we had moved a large plant in front of it so it wasn’t just an attractive swing for a two year old.
“I need you to do a deep dive into his life. Everything, Neo. I want to know everything from where he was born, to who he lost his virginity to, to where he took a piss last night. Understood?”
Neo’s chin quivered, but they nodded. “I don’t like it, but I want to know too. I need to know. Kahoku was the first person I came out to when I was thirteen. If he…” Their voice cracked. “I need to know,” they repeated more firmly.
“Something else to consider,” Tommy spoke up.
We all shifted to look at him in the back of the room.
He was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest. “Someone paid the Bloody Scorpions to kill you. There were pictures in that warehouse of your house, the barn, the horses, the property… It could have been Rory or it could have been some random stranger on the street that someone else paid to do the transaction. We need to upgrade security around the property.” He looked to Bacon.
“Including your home. We’re here enough with the barn under construction that someone watching will put two and two together. ”
“What about your renter?” I asked Bacon. “What do you know about him? Someone could have paid him to watch us.”
Bacon didn’t shift uncomfortably or blink excessively, nothing to give away any irritation at my question. But it was there. Minute, but I saw it in the man’s eyes. “It’s not him.”
I didn’t budge. “How do you know?”
“Because I do,” he said shortly. Still, I waited. Bacon’s jaw ticked. “I know because if someone had approached him to try to bribe him into doing, well, anything, they would be dead and we wouldn’t be having this issue.”
I frowned, because that was not the answer I expected. “Who the fuck is your renter?”
“That’s my business and it has nothing to do with the club. Either you trust me or you don’t,” Bacon added before I could argue.
I didn’t like the ultimatum, but I had to admit it was my curiosity that was driving my questions and not a suspicion. Bacon wasn’t usually so tight lipped. The fact that he was about whoever his renter was made me want to know more, but he was right that it wasn’t club business.
I caught Neo’s eye from across the room. They nodded, indicating that they would include the renter in their deep dive.
Bacon must have seen the look, but he just chuckled. “Good luck.”
I had to bring this meeting back to the more-pressing topic at hand. “I gave Neo the name of the Bloody Scorpions’ contact in the Black Market Railroad. As much as we all want answers regarding Kahoku, finding Nishi still needs to be our priority.”
Tangaloa’s phone rang. Mine was found with a bullet through the center of the screen like it had been executed. Neo claimed it would take them a few days to get me a new one. Personally, I thought they were just punishing me for destroying another phone.
Tangaloa listened to whomever was on the other end for a minute before saying, “Thanks. Hurry back.” He hung up and looked to me. “They found blood on Rory’s boat. A lot of it. They don’t think he survived, but there wasn’t a body.”
I nodded. “I didn’t think it was him. He wouldn’t have had the balls.”
“Or do anything to endanger Lu?” Tangaloa added, though it sounded more like a question.
“She rejected him,” I said with pride. “Some take something like that personally.”
“More personally than you chopping off his hand?” Mako murmured to my left.
I shrugged nonchalantly. “He could have taken his own finger. I was kind enough to even give him the choice after what he did.”
Some of the men wouldn’t meet my gaze, but I didn’t care. I stood by my decision. Rory had only been allowed into the club out of deference to Aaleah. I tried being nice, and look how it turned out. It was humbling, in a way. Finally learning I wasn’t good at something.
“I still want Rory found,” I told Tangaloa, rolling my shoulders.
I wasn’t sitting down because of my back.
Lu had shoved some ibuprofen down my throat this morning—quite literally.
She was disappointed in my gag reflex, and then she showed me how to deep throat like a good girl.
I was impatiently waiting for my next dose.
When no one had anything else, I dismissed the meeting. Tangaloa hung back, and Bacon neared when I signaled for him to stay too.
“What is it?” I asked Tangaloa once we were alone.
Tangaloa put an elbow on the mantel over the fireplace, rubbing his chin with his hand. “Neo filled me in on why Pua’s been staying with you.”