Page 70 of Deadly Aloha
His face turned red with anger and pain, but his mouth remained closed. Spirit took his other big toe.
“Why did you target my house?”
The man tried to kick Spirit’s leg, but Spirit lifted his foot just in time and then slammed it down on the man’s ankle with enough force to break bone.
“Why did you target my house?”
“We were hired to!” he finally gasped out.
I lifted an eyebrow, my demand for him to elaborate a silent one.
“I don’t know by who,” he insisted. “But I saw the guy talking to One Eye. I know there was money exchanged.”
“If you were paid to kill me, why did you tranq me?” I asked.
The guy shrugged like he wasn’t missing two toes and had a broken ankle. “Figured if the guy wanted you dead enough to pay us, we could figure out why and then blackmail him into paying us more. When you survived the shooting, I grabbed the other gun. I didn’t realize the dose would wear off so quick. The women we’ve used it on were under a lot longer.”
I was also bigger than a hundred-pound woman. I had to quell my anger at the thought of these men dosing women to take them hostage.
“You said you saw the man who paid One Eye. Describe him.”
The guy shrugged. “Average height, I guess. Darkish, red hair.”
My eyebrows flew up. “Did he have one hand?” Rory was the only red-haired man whomighthave a reason to kill me.
Spirit, though, was shaking his head. “I doubt he survived. He was in really bad shape when we left him.”
Still, I wanted the Bloody Scorpion to confirm. Unfortunately, he gave me a noncommittal, “I couldn’t say.”
Fuck. When we got back to shore, I was going to need to send some men over to Rory’s boat to see what they could find.
“What can you tell me about Denis Baranov?”
He shook his head. “I came after our deal with the Black Market Railroad ended.”
“Then who is your new supplier?”
The guy clamped his mouth shut, but as soon as Spirit started forward again, he quickly started talking. “Kan something. Kannaka. Or, Kanooko! He runs?—”
Spirit, Tommy, and I all straightened at the name. Lucifer must have recognized it too, because his eyebrows drew down.
“Kahoku?” Tommy gasped. “No. He would… He would never.”
Kahoku Hikialani was an activist. But he wasn’t justsomeactivist around these parts, he wastheactivist. And we all worked for him at one point or another: Rory, Aaleah, Tommy, Spirit, Tangaloa, Neo, Mako… Even Hops. Kahoku stood for home, for our way of life. It made no sense that he would be involved in drug running. Called it the ‘haolepoison’. And hedespiseddrug dealers.
It made no fucking sense… But how else would this Bloody Scorpion know Kahoku’s name?
I wasn’t the only one who was pissed at this news. Now also wasn’t the time to ask Tommy or Spirit about it. Not when we were running out of moonlight and the others would need to be asked the same questions.
“Can you think of anything else to ask them?” I asked Tommy instead.
The Brit looked shellshocked. He wasn’t born here, nor did he have a drop of Polynesian blood in him, but he was stillmalihini. He’d fought and bled for our people.
I looked to Spirit and Lucifer, silently asking them the same question. Both shook their heads in response.
At my nod, the two picked up the man who told us about Kahoku. He flailed, but was unable to prevent them from cutting off his clothing. The man with the shoulder wound sagged in relief as he watched his club brother be fed into the woodchipper too.
“Turn it off,” I instructed Tommy, who flipped the switch. I walked up to the last living Bloody Scorpion. “Your clothes are filthy. Strip.” I waved a hand at the large pile of clothing. “Let’s get you cleaned up.”
