Page 1 of Kai
Chapter One
Kai
The woman sitting in the lighthouse hadn’t looked up since I’d reached my observation post a few minutes ago. Other than the moon’s silver rays, the only other visible light for miles was the golden glow that spilled from the watch room where she bent over her desk. Adjusting my binoculars, I looked across the bay and through the bank of circular windows. I homed in on the figure at the center of the radiant light. From afar, she looked like a jewel enclosed in a glass case, a luminous soul entrapped in a haunted tower.
Was she the person I was looking for?
The watch room where she worked stood only one level down from the uppermost lantern deck. The view from up there must be spectacular, and yet she hadn’t lifted her eyes from her work, not even once. As I drifted into position, scouting the building, she couldn’t see me.
This was by design, of course.
Floating in the Hawaiian waters of Noelani Bay, I bobbed to the rhythm of the swells, straddling my longboard. Even though the full moon painted a trail on the sea and dimmed the stars, my black surfboard and my neoprene suit kept me invisible against the nocturnal background.
On the far side of the bay, a jumbled pile of volcanic rock reached out into the ocean like a scrawny arm, narrowing the entrance and making it impossible for watercraft to sail into the bay. At the tip of the promontory, the craggy rocks formed the cliff where the venerable lighthouse stood.
The lighthouse had once been a proud building,projecting a powerful beacon that reached miles out to sea, warning passing ships of the perils of a treacherous coast. These days, it was no longer in use. New technologies had made it obsolete. The lantern had burned out decades ago, and the distant drone of a generator explained why electricity still ran in the place. The paint had peeled off the walls, and rust coated the battered catwalk and the iron fixtures, staining the old building with sickly brown blotches.
I screwed my lenses until I had a closer view of the details inside the room. A large, state-of-the-art microscope stood on the woman’s desk. She sat with her head down and her shoulders hunched, squinting into the eyepiece as focused as a sniper on her scope. A tall table lamp lit up her face, improving my chances for a quick ID.
Her pale skin, diamond-shaped face, and the smooth, delicate nose that parted her face into perfect halves matched the pictures I’d studied to prepare for this mission. I recognized the unique features she shared with her sisters—the flowing eyebrows that lifted in the middle and tapered at the ends, and behind her glasses, those big, wide-set, almond-shaped, uniquely Astor eyes.
Oorah.
This was the woman I’d been tasked to find.
Her hair looked shorter than it did in the pictures. The change didn’t surprise me. After all, she’d been hiding for three years. She wore her sable mane in a blunt bob that tapered below the ears, shorter on one side and longer on the other, where straight bangs fell like a curtain over the side of her face.
Her sisters, Thena and Missy Astor, had sent me to search for her. They had “chosen” me—yeah, that was me, “the chosen one”—to scout this lighthouse, hoping against all hope that the subject of my search would be here, and perhaps most importantly, alive.
Here. Check.
Alive. Check.
Too easy, K-man.The waves whispered a warning. A flicker of unease prickled in my stomach. Experience reminded me it was never this easy.
Through the lenses, I watched as she reached out and typed something on her laptop. The blue screen reflected on her face. She took off her black-rimmed glasses, pinched the bridge of her nose, and scrubbed her eyes before she blinked several times as if to clear the weariness from her gaze. Then she was back to work, squinting into that big-ass microscope.
If the profile I’d compiled of the woman was correct, she’d probably been working all night. Not only did she meet my subject’s physical description, she also met the behavioral reports as well. My intel indicated that my subject was a lifelong Type A workaholic.
This woman was definitively that.
Since I’d arrived, she’d never once stopped her work to appreciate the gift of the obsidian sky as it merged with the darker line of the straight horizon. Or the reflection of the full moon painting a silver streak on the Pacific’s vast expanse. Or the waves’ orchestral performance as they crashed against the rocks at the bottom of her tower, frothing and misting the air.
Good thing I noticed.
I was a Marine on a mission, but in a world dominated by pain, heartbreak, and loss, beauty mattered. Peace mattered. Serenity mattered. The present was all we had.
The scent of salt and brine enveloped me from all sides. Still working the binos, I inhaled it by the mouthful, filling my lungs with the essence of who I was—a son of the ocean, a lover of these waters, and a lifelong admirer of the sea who could never stay away for long.
I surveyed the lighthouse one last time. I had to give it toher. Before I’d finally caught up with her, she’d hidden herself well. Misty Island was a privately owned bio-reserve and one of the most inaccessible spots in the Hawaiian chain. The owners prohibited trespassing and limited access to the eighty-some native islanders who made their home there, plus a handful of hand-selected, mostly seasonal scientists. How the hell had Sorceress gotten on the island and set up shop at the old lighthouse?
It was a story I couldn’t wait to hear.
Go get her, K-man.
I stuffed my binos into my watertight tactical vest, adjusted the straps of the wet bag at my back, and double-checked the fastening that attached my weapons and gear to my person. Once ready, I flattened over my longboard, and swinging my arms and cupping my hands, paddled across the bay.
The dark surf kept me concealed. I didn’t wanna scare the crap out of the woman, but I also didn’t want to give her a chance to flee or trigger a chase. The gods knew she’d been running long enough. Word was she was smart as a whip and fierce to boot. If I wanted to execute my mission and keep my balls intact, I had to go at this with equal parts of caution and daring.
