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.
Hawk grinned. “Hank assured me the FBI agent in charge has been tracking Vaughan for a while. Every time he got close to nailing the guy, evidence was lost, and they had nothing. This time, he’s making multiple copies of everything and filing it with several agencies besides the FBI, including Interpol, Europol and the UK’s National Crime Agency. ”
“Good. They can’t risk the evidence disappearing again,” Kimo said.
“Something else we found on the yacht you should know about. Bennett, Logan and Devlin broke into a locked room on a lower deck and found ten girls,” Hawk said. “They range in age from twelve to seventeen and hail from various countries.”
“Is one of them from Romania?” Rex asked.
Hawk nodded. “As a matter of fact, yes.”
Rex tightened the arm he’d had around Kimo’s waist. “She’s fourteen.” He shook his head. “Men like Vaughan need to rot in hell.”
Hawk nodded. “Yes, they do. In the meantime, the girls are being loaded onto a boat to be transported to Oahu, where they’ll get the care they need. For now, JD is waiting to take us back to Maui, unless you want to ride in the police boat or the charter the FBI and HSI folks arrived in.”
Kimo lifted Alana’s and Rex’s hands. “I want to go wherever these two go.”
Alana gave her a crooked smile. “If it’s all the same to you, I’d rather not get wet on the way back.”
“Since they’re heading back the soonest, the FBI charter boat, it is then,” Hawk said.
The ride back to Maui on the charter boat seemed to last forever. The RHIB had moved a lot faster and handled the waves better.
The wind felt good on his cheeks, and the rain held off. In fact, the sea seemed a little calmer. At least, it felt like it was. Then again, they weren’t wearing their scuba gear and hanging onto an inflatable boat being splashed with every wave the craft hit.
Rex counted the minutes until he could be alone with Kimo again. Now that Vaughan was in custody, Kimo wouldn’t need protection. Rex would give the disk to the FBI agent Hank Patterson had recommended after he and Kimo had a chance to review it and make sure there truly was evidence captured on it.
The FBI agent had assured him that if the images were what they thought they were, the disk would be used in the case against Holte, Vaughan and all the people involved in handling the shipping container filled with young girls.
Leilani met them at Maalaea Harbor in her SUV. Angel settled in the passenger seat while Rex, Kimo and Alana climbed into the back.
Leilani drove to Lahaina Harbor, where Rex and Kimo transferred into Rex’s truck. They would meet at Leilani and Angel’s house in Lahaina for a meal and to decompress.
They sat outside in the shade, surrounded by bougainvillea, hibiscus and two plumeria saplings.
After three years waiting and building, Leilani and Angel had moved into the home they’d had constructed in the wake of the fires that had devastated the little town of Lahaina.
Like the other residents who’d survived, they chose to rebuild rather than leave Maui.
The island was their home. No other place on earth would compare.
Rex had never seen Angel so happy. If Angel could find the love of his life, why couldn’t he?
As the sun crept toward the horizon, Kimo yawned and stretched. She crossed to where Alana leaned back on a lounge chair, soaking up the last rays before dark.
She bent to hug her friend and pressed a kiss to her cheek. “I’m glad you’re back.”
Alana caught her hand. “Me, too. And you don’t have to worry whether or not I’ll dive with you again. I’ll go.”
“You won’t be afraid?” Kimo sighed. “Hell, I’ll be looking over my shoulder for months to come.”
Kimo glanced across at Rex. “I’m ready to go when you are.”
He nodded. “I’m ready.”
They said their goodbyes to Angel, Leilani and Alana and climbed into Rex’s truck.
Rex headed for Kahului. “Did you want to go to your place?” he asked.
Kimo’s brow furrowed. “Did you want me to go to my place?”
With a sharp glance her way, he said, “No.”
Her frown slipping away, Kimo sat back with a sigh. “Then can we go to your little cottage by the beach?”
“I was going to suggest it.” He reached for her hand. “I know you don’t need a protector anymore, but this assignment was far too short. I haven’t had nearly enough time getting to know you.”
“I’ve had enough time,” Kimo said.
The rush of disappointment sank to the pit of Rex’s belly. “You have?”
She nodded. “I’ve had enough time to know you’re special. Enough time to know I’ll never find anyone else quite like you.” Kimo squeezed his hand. “Enough time to know I’m falling in love with you.”
“When you put it like that,” Rex said, “forever will never be enough time with you.” He grinned. For a guy who’d avoided commitment like the plague, in the short time they’d been together, he’d fallen hard and fast—with absolutely no regrets.
Kimo grinned back. “Shall we start our forever tonight?”
“I can’t think of anything I’d like better. In fact,” Rex slowed the truck and pulled it to the side of the road. He reached across the console and pulled her close. “I can’t think of anyone I could love more than you.”