Chapter 6 #2
The night Aloiki’s house had been attacked and destroyed, we’d captured the Bloody Scorpions who had opened fire on a home with our Prez, his pregnant Ol’ lady, and his two-year-old niece.
I’d gone a little nuts when I discovered Pualani had been in the house at the time of the shooting, but she was fine.
Aloiki had squirreled Lu and Pua away before he attacked the Bloody Scorpions singlehandedly, because in true Aloiki fashion, he’d forgotten his phone.
After we turned most of the Bloody Scorpions into chum, utilizing the woodchipper we’d stolen from the construction crew still working on the barn at the time, one of the two remaining informed us that a redhaired man had paid them to attack Aloiki’s home, and claimed the redhaired man worked for a man named Kahoku.
Aloiki was fucking pissed, as were many of us.
Kahoku was an activist, not some thug. Nor was he a coward who would pay haoles to do his dirty work.
None of us wanted to believe it. And it was only because we got a lead on Nishi from the Bloody Scorpions that Aloiki had a moment to breathe and think through the accusation clearly.
It didn’t make sense, but how else would the Bloody Scorpions know Kahoku’s name?
We had a theory: he didn’t. Rory had somehow survived and was the redhaired man the Bloody Scorpion had seen speaking with his leader.
Rory dropped Kahoku’s name to pit us against each other.
Maybe Kahoku wouldn’t take him back or Rory harbored resentment towards Kahoku for another reason, like Aaleah’s death, but either way, it made more sense that Rory was our redhaired mystery man.
While we were off hunting Nishi, Aloiki gave Bacon and Neo the task of tracking down Rory.
Unfortunately, they’d come up with bupkis.
There was absolutely no sign of Rory, not on a security camera or on his accounts.
His houseboat was still exactly where it had been when I’d dumped a bloody, broken Rory onto it.
Upon returning with Nishi’s body, Aloiki also gave the task to Kayl, who was equally pissed about learning Lu had been put in danger.
It had been nearly seven weeks since we returned, and it looked like we were finally going to get some answers.
“No,” Kayl answered me, a note of frustration in his voice. “Haole has both his hands, but he’s certainly got a story to tell.”
I frowned. Even if Rory had somehow gotten a prosthetic for his hand, that would be easily discoverable. I’d known Kayl as long as I’d known Aloiki. The guy was many things, but a moron wasn’t one of them. Plus, Kayl had met Rory.
“Tell me,” I demanded, knowing I wasn’t going to like what I was about to hear.
“You’re not going to believe this, but he says Kahoku paid him to hire the Bloody Scorpions to kill Aloiki.”
I felt my stomach drop, and nausea rise up. Fuck… It was Kahoku. Beyond that I trusted Kayl, we hadn’t told him about Kahoku’s involvement. Not when there was a possibility that Kahoku was being framed. Kayl wouldn’t know to say that name until the redhaired man, who was not Rory, told him.
This news was going to hurt Aloiki. It didn’t matter what front he presented to the others, I knew him better than that.
Kahoku had been his mentor, took him in after his mother’s death and his father’s disappearance.
Kayl’s discovery just signed Kahoku’s death warrant, and despite that a number of us had ties back to Kahoku, it would be Aloiki who would carry out that sentencing.
I did not disagree with it—Kahoku’s actions could have just as easily harmed or killed Lu and Pualani—but it did not soothe the sting of betrayal. Kahoku Hikialani would die bloody and screaming.
“Mahalo,” I told Kayl, not giving him the details of what we’d already suspected. “I’ll let Aloiki know. Hold onto your prize for us, will you? We’re going to need him later.”
“Hiki no!”—Can do!—“Just be warned, he’s missing his tongue.”
I hung up the phone. Putting it in my back pocket, I leaned heavily on the back of the couch. A small hand touched my shoulder. Without saying anything, I turned and gathered her up in my arms. Samantha was on her hip, and I pulled her into my embrace too.
My prediction that Aloiki would be pissed at the news was an understatement.
Kahoku’s home on Kaua?i, as well as the floor of Tommy’s boat, were drenched with blood.
Aloiki, the twins, Tommy, Spirit, and I took the bodies, both living and dead, and left behind a trail of destruction.
Aloiki wanted Kahoku’s people who had not been there tonight to see the evidence of what Kahoku’s betrayal had wrought, a warning of what would happen again if they tried to avenge their boss.
With Kahoku and the redheaded man Kayl captured, our total prisoner count was nineteen.
While Tommy took care of getting the pellets and debris that had made their way into Aloiki’s side from Kahoku’s shotgun, the twins, our Prospect Barnacle, and I stripped the dead of their worldly possessions and tossed them into the woodchipper.
It was an industrial grade woodchipper and more than capable of chopping up a full body without the bones jamming the blades.
Aloiki had liked using it so much that we hadn’t returned it to the construction crew after its initial theft months ago.
Plus, why waste money on chum made of fish guts when we could make our own out of our enemies?
Aloiki’s injuries weren’t bad, but I was still not pointing out to anyone that I had been the one to sell Kahoku his shotgun. With the dark mood Aloiki was in, I had no intention of going on a one-way journey through the woodchipper either.
By the time the eleventh body was spread across the ocean top, we’d already attracted a number of sharks.
Tommy’s boat was small and powerful, but we still had to be on the lookout for the Coast Guard and anyone else who might be on the open sea at night.
Sounds had a tendency to carry and become distorted, but there was no dulling the grind of a woodchipper.
Nineteen was a lot of bodies to get through, and we didn’t have time to chop up the eight live ones and feed them bit by bit into the chipper, too.
But we’d planned ahead, and as soon as the eleventh body went through, we turned off the woodchipper.
The injured guards were lined up, and quickly stripped of their clothing and jewelry.
Most had broken bones or bullet wounds already, but we also added several, thick slices, while avoiding major arteries, so they did not bleed out too quickly.
We’d raided Kahoku’s home gym before we left, giving Barnacle the unlucky job of lugging all the cast iron weight plates onto the boat.
Now, he had to lift them onto the edge as one of the twins wrapped one end of rope around the wounded man’s feet and the other twin threaded the other end through the hole in the weight plate.
One by one, the weight plates were tossed into the sea.
We stood back and watched as the men screamed and fought for purchase before inevitably being dragged down to the bottom of the ocean.
Kahoku was in his mid-fifties with a gray short-boxed beard and sharp eyes so dark they were nearly black. Gagged, he watched in still silence as, one by one, his men were given back to the sea.
Until he was the only one left.
I stood back with Tommy as Aloiki squatted in front of a man I would have once called my friend.
“We didn’t have to become enemies.” It was eerie how smooth, almost calm, Aloiki’s voice was as he sliced across the meaty parts of Kahoku’s arms, legs, and torso.
The older man barely even flinched. But Aloiki did not stop there.
He also etched Lu’s name into Kahoku’s chest. All the while, Kahoku just stared at him.
I didn’t like Kahoku’s lack of emotion. There was no hatred, no accusation, as he faced his execution. Had he simply lost his fight after Aloiki had beaten him in battle in his own home?
Barnacle struggled to drag the final, and heaviest, weight to the stern of the boat. I hoped he didn’t drop it, because Aloiki would likely have made him dive in after it, if he had. My ex-brother-in-law was not in a forgiving mood tonight.
As Aloiki stood back, Tommy and I lifted Kahoku to his feet. He stood tall, not forcing us to take his weight as he continued to stare forward at Aloiki. The twins stripped him of his sarong and then tied the rope to his ankles.
Once the twins stepped back, Aloiki cut the cloth gag from Kahoku’s mouth.
“But honestly,” he said in that even tone, “I’m kind of glad we did.
Don’t get me wrong—I’m extremely pissed about the way you went about it, but this is a hell of a lot better of a bachelor party than Tangaloa ever could have come up with. ”
I snorted, not amused. “You’re such a dick, Aloiki.”
After giving Kahoku a flippant two-fingered wave, Aloiki pushed him off the side of the boat.
It was early hours in the morning, but I needed to see them. I was surprised the deadbolt wasn’t locked. Was it wrong of me that I hoped Caroline had left it open for this exact reason?
Things had happened so fast after I got Kayl’s phone call earlier. I barely had a chance to say goodbye to either of them. Samantha’s swim lesson was cancelled for obvious reasons. Both were getting better, but there was no way I was allowing either of them into the pool without me present.
We quickly determined who was going and who was staying.
We knew Kahoku would have guards. Aloiki and others had served that position over the years, so we knew the routine.
Tommy, Spirit, and the twins were our go-to fighting team, in addition to Aloiki and myself.
Hops and Mako would be our backup, on the island but monitoring rather than fighting.
While we had not anticipated a trap, it never hurt to be overprepared.