Page 33 of Wired Fear

Gratitude warmed his gaze as Jake smiled down at Felicia.Why couldn’t he have fallen for a smart, nice, pretty, normal girl like her?Life would have been so much easier. “Thanks, babe. Don’t know what I’d do without you.” He headed for the door.

“Don’t call me ‘babe.’ Unless we’re going on a date,” Felicia called after him.

Jake closed the office door behind him and pretended he hadn’t heard that.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Sophie leaned her forehead against the window of the Hawaiian Air jet on its way to Kaua`i. Evening gilded the ocean as the plane took off from Hilo airport, and as always, Sophie enjoyed the sights of her new home island: the rising bulk of Kilauea off to one side, the smooth arc of Hilo Bay with its fringe of palms and banyans. The black lava teeth rimming the coast were softened by waves’ foamy lace and a multiplicity of textured green foliage. As the plane rose, Sophie scanned the water for any sign of whales, but the cobalt ocean was opaque, marked only by the scuff of whitecaps.

Sophie accepted a plastic container of passion fruit, orange, and guava juice from the flight attendant. Shortly after she’d downed the sugary drink, energy surged back to fight the tiredness of a long, emotionally intense day.

She looked down at her phone, set to airplane mode, and scrolled through a series of texts she’d sent to make sure they sounded right. She’d agonized over the wording, the tone, not wanting to say too much or too little to each person.

To Alika:“Hi Alika. I am so sorry to have been out of touch for so long, but there are things I need to speak to you about. I really need to see you in person; I am flying over today. I hope it will not be too much of an imposition if I rent a car and come out to your house. Please text me your address. Thanks!”

To Felicia:“Please block out my schedule for the next couple of days. I’m traveling on personal business. Mahalo!”

And to Jake:“I’m taking a quick trip to Kaua`i to meet with Alika about the paternity test. Can you take care of Ginger? I put her in your apartment. She was very happy to be with Tank again; I don’t think we should separate the dogs anymore. No matter what happens with us, the dogs can both stay together at each of our places on alternating nights or something. I left a stick drive with the Merrie Monarch financial info report on the counter in your apartment.”She’d debated about ending with a heart emoticon, but didn’t want to pressure him, so she’d put a smiley face. Then that seemed too flippant, so she’d put a rainbow symbol instead. Texting was almost as hard as speaking to people in person.

To Connor:“I can’t thank you enough for your kindness and support this morning when I gave you my personal news. I really needed your understanding, and the hug, too. But, I just don’t feel it would be right to take the company jet for such a personal errand, even though I greatly appreciate your offer to have Thom fly me. I’ll be on Kaua`i for a few days meeting with Alika, so don’t worry about where I am. Deepest friendship, Sophie.”

To Marcella:“Dear BFF, I’m heading to Kaua`i to meet with Alika. Wish me luck and not to be too incoherent. I have no idea how much he will hate me because I never even acknowledged the loss of his arm. I wish I had you by my side so you could tell me what to say and how to act!”

To her father, Frank:“It’s been a while, Dad, but this is just a note to let you know I’m still alive, all is well, and I’m flying to Kaua`i to meet Alika as you told me I should, to acknowledge the loss of his arm and other things. Thanks for always being there for me, and for always challenging me to do the right thing. I love you.”

To Dr. Wilson:“Thanks, dear Dr. Wilson, for the session today, and for helping me see that I am in charge of my life, my body, and my choices. I don’t need anyone to take care of, or rescue, me or my baby. I’m capable, I have money and friends, and whatever the men in my life think about me and my child, it’s my opinion that matters most. Though there may be emotional pain ahead, I’m a survivor and I can handle it. I thank you for the extra-long session we had to sort all of this out, and I look forward to updating you on how my visit to Alika and the situation with how the paternity test go. Many thanks, Sophie.”

The session with Dr. Wilson had cemented her determination to see Alika and talk things through with him. She would always remember Dr. Wilson’s kind, direct blue eyes as the psychologist listened to her outpouring while she described the last few days’ events and her pregnancy news. They’d sorted through Sophie’s fears about Jake, about facing Alika, and even the surprisingly unstinting support she’d received from Connor.

“In the end you don’t need any of them. Not even your father,” Dr. Wilson had said. “I don’t think it will come to this, but it’s useful for you to acknowledge that you may be the only person this child has, and if so, you can still do a great job parenting.” Together they’d searched out various articles and resources for Sophie to study. “The most important thing is that you get calm and confident about your choice to keep the baby. Everyone else will settle down around that in whatever way they choose to, but ultimately you’re not in control of their reactions—and you have to accept that, and be okay with yourself and your choice, come what may.”

Sophie put her phone back into the travel backpack she’d packed with a couple of changes of clothes and other essentials, feeling calmer.

Maybe she’d only be on Kaua`i overnight, but it was better to be prepared. She leaned her head back against the seat and the tiredness that she’d read was such a part of first trimester pregnancy swamped her. She slept for the rest of the hour-long flight.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Akane Chang loaded the hunting rifle, ramming in a shell and ratcheting it home. There was no point in getting some fancy sniper rifle; he already had a good pig-hunting gun in his personal arsenal, and the target wasn’t far. He’d got a call from a friendly cousin telling him where to find that bitch investigator and her partner; taking them down was going to be so satisfying, the perfect way to announce he was back in town.

Getting back to the Big Island from Oahu undetected had been more of a challenge than Akane had anticipated. He’d called in many a favor to get here, finally hitching a ride on a third cousin’s fishing boat and arriving at night. Many in the family were intimidated by Terence Chang’s massacre of Akane’s family, so he’d had to choose his contacts carefully.

Disguised as a fisherman, he’d visited the Chang’s memorial park area. His family had all simply disappeared, so not so much as a plaque marked their vanishing. Akane had brought lei, one for each missing member, and he’d draped them along the top of the memorial wall where the ash cisterns were stored. He’d taken time to grieve alone.

Freakin’ Terence had even shot Akane’s mother!Who knew that poser with his hipster jeans had a heart of stone beating under his designer shirt?

Akane tried to imagine pulling the trigger on his closest family members. His brother Byron was the only one he’d have enjoyed killing, and Byron had been dispatched by the assassin he’d hired to replace Akane—a fitting irony.

His family’s murders weren’t even being investigated, because no one who’d witnessed the massacre was talking to the cops, and no bodies had yet been found. His contact in the Hilo PD told him that evidence planted at their homes indicated that they’d left on vacation.

What had Terence done with them?

His imagination tormented him. That Akane had so much experience making people disappear himself was insult added to injury, and solidified the rage burning in his chest.

Akane ground his teeth as he ran a rag over the gun and checked the sights. He’d broken into his parents’ empty home to get the rifle. He’d seen a typed note left out for a house-sitting service. The note was supposedly from his mother, leaving directions on watering the plants. His parents’ home had smelled fresh and aired, as if they’d return any minute.

He’d vomited from grief in their immaculate bathroom.

“Clever Terence. I’m saving you for last,” Akane muttered. He propped the rifle on the windowsill, sighting down at the door of the business building that housed Security Solutions, directly across the street. “I’m starting here, with these rent-a-cops, and then I’ll kill everyone you ever cared about. And when that’s done, I’ll cut you up alive and throw you to Pele to burn.”

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