Page 16 of Wired Ghost

Raveaux did not smile back. Smiling was a habit he’d lost since the death of his family. He looked across the empty seat beside him to gaze out the window at the sea below, flecked with whitecaps like bits of lint on a crinkled blue blanket. The flight was short from Oahu to Hilo on the Big Island of Hawaii, and soon they’d be on the ground—but Sophie had told him to look for whales, even on these short flights, and now he never forgot to.

Raveaux peeled the aluminum lid back, regretting the wasteful use of resources in all these disposables. Europeans had had to live with high costs and crowding so much longer that they were more careful in their use of these kinds of conveniences. Though he’d been in the United States for a year now, he was still surprised by the wanton waste he often saw around him—even in the Islands, with their finite space and high cost of living.

He drank the water in a couple of sips and set the container aside, glancing down at his phone. He’d woken very early to the chime of an incoming text at his apartment in Waikiki. The device was in airplane mode, but he was still able to scroll to the terse directive he’d received from Kendall Bix, president of operations for Security Solutions, the company he contracted for.

“Raveaux: I need you to go to the Big Island and follow up on the case Sophie and her partner, Jake Dunn, are pursuing. The volcanic activity in the area they were last heard from has increased, and they are not responding. Find where they are, what’s going on with their case, and liaise with law enforcement. Call me ASAP to confirm and get details.”

He’d called Bix immediately, his pulse elevated with alarm—and his heart rate hadn’t calmed as he learned more about the dangerous escalation in volcanic activity on the Big Island, and more details about the case Jake and Sophie were on.

Raveaux scrolled a little further down, locating the contact number for the client who’d hired Security Solutions to recover his errant daughter, and a set of GPS coordinates which showed where Sophie’s phone had last been pinged. Bix had also sent over a satellite photo of that area. Raveaux looked at the image again, blowing it up wider on his phone to study the topography of the unique formation.

Sophie and Jake had disappeared on akipuka, and what was now most alarming were glowing rivers of fresh lava that forked, flowing around the raised area where they had last been heard from. If they were still on thatkipuka,they weren’t getting off of it without help.

Thankfully, he’d been given a directive to contact the local police department and work with them and any rescue teams dealing with victims stranded in the emergency currently generated by the volcano’s eruption—because he had no real idea of how to proceed. He was a stranger in a strange land, and contacting law enforcement first, given the challenges of the unique situation, made sense.

The minute the plane touched down, Raveaux called the Hilo police station nearest the area off of Saddle Road where Sophie and Jake had disappeared. “I’d like to report two missing persons in need of assistance. They may be trapped by lava flows,” Raveaux told the intake officer he was routed to.

Explaining who he was, who Sophie and Jake were, what they were doing out on the lava, who they were pursuing and why, took the rest of the time getting off the plane and down and out of the Hilo Airport building as he headed for the car rental kiosk.

“I’ll come to you,” Raveaux told the officer taking his information. “I was told to ask for Captain Ohale. Sophie Smithson is known to him from past cases, and socially. I’ll be at your station soon to meet with your chief.” He hit the End button on his phone.

Raveaux was going to have to establish his bona fides in person; his law enforcement background as an elite detective on the French Riviera had taught him that who you knew was important at any police station the world over.

* * *

“Captain Bruce Ohale.I’m in charge at this station.” The big Hawaiian man’s hand engulfed Raveaux’s as they shook. Ohale gestured to one of two plastic chairs drawn up in front of his battered metal desk. “Have a seat, and run this situation by me again. From the beginning.”

“Of course.” Raveaux tugged his tailored trousers down and sat, crossing one leg over the other as he took Ohale’s measure. The station leader had a large, square head whose shape was emphasized by a military-style buzz cut.

Ohale’s dark brown eyes gleamed with intelligence and candor as the man took in Raveaux’s trim build, fine clothing, and salt-and-pepper hair with a similar assessing glance. “We don’t often get someone with your kind of background in our area.”

“Sophie Smithson is the CEO of Security Solutions. Her disappearance in the midst of a natural disaster has us all very worried,” Raveaux said carefully. “I’m an investigation contractor with Security Solutions, and one of our most mobile members. I was available to get on a plane and come as soon as our president of operations, Kendall Bix, asked me to.” Raveaux smoothed the buttoned placket of his shirt. “We’re not sure if Ms. Smithson and her partner Jake Dunn, whom I’m given to understand you are acquainted with, have gone off the grid as a result of the persons they were pursuing for a case, or due to the recent eruption emergency. In any event, we’d like to work with you on their rescue due to the criminal nature of the people they were confronting.”

“And who are those people, exactly?”

“Sophie and Jake were hired by Ki Ayabe, the parent of a minor daughter, Lia Ayabe, who’s supposedly run away to live with a methamphetamine producer. The suspect’s name is Finn O’Brien.” Raveaux took out his phone and scrolled to the case file, showing Ohale the picture they had of the client’s daughter and her boyfriend. “Security Solutions would like to formally ask for support in a rescue mission to find Sophie and Jake.”

Ohale sat back in his chair, which squeaked in protest. He steepled thick fingers and glanced out the window, which featured a view of the parking lot, mostly empty of police cruisers. “We’ve been after this meth cooker, O’Brien, for a while now, but couldn’t find where he was holed up. Our staff is spread thin dealing with all that’s going on with the eruption, but we can’t miss this chance, both to rescue your people, and grab up O’Brien and his men. They’re bad news, a cancer on our community.”

Raveaux flicked to the satellite picture with its coordinates and held up his phone for Ohale to see. “Don’t ask how we have this information, but we know right where they are. I’ll forward this to you. When can we get a team together?”

Chapter Eleven

Raveaux

Raveaux clungto a ceiling strap as he sat in the front seat of a Humvee driven by a National Guardsman. The rear of the vehicle was bristling with troops seated on benches, gripping weapons. The vehicle crawled over and through deep potholes, traversing the lava plain toward thekipukawhere Sophie’s and Jake’s phone signals had been lost.

Raveaux shut his eyes—there wasn’t much to see in the featureless gray “vog” that covered the plain, and he was feeling decidedly out of his element. He worked on lowering his heart rate by slowing his breathing, counting down from five with every inhale and exhale, his mind quieting inside the chamber of his helmet. His body, encased in a heavy bulletproof vest, sweated with tension in the humidity.

It had been a long time since he’d gone into an unknown hostile situation, in strange terrain, surrounded by this much firepower.

A tap on his shoulder. He turned his head toward Captain Ohale, seated beside him on the wide bench seat. “We’re almost there.” Ohale’s dark brown eyes gleamed with excitement. Raveaux had a feeling the man didn’t get out from behind his desk very often, and relished this adventure.

Raveaux and Ohale were the only two from the Hilo station—Ohale’s staff was tied up with emergency response efforts, and the burly station chief had been the only one able to come on the rescue raid—because that’s what it was, a combination ofrescueandraid.

Six National Guardsmen sat in back, strapped and ready, loaded with tear gas canisters and plenty of ammo to take down any resistance from the meth factory—and prepared to bring everyone in, out of danger of the lava flow.

Hopefully the gang surrendered without a fight, if they were at all aware of how desperate their situation was. Though they could likely survive the immediate crisis on thekipuka, thanks to its elevation above the flow, poisonous gases emitted by the volcano could still kill them, and food and water would become a problem if they were isolated there for long.

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