Page 63 of Deadly Aloha
A glance to my left confirmed that Lu and Pua were sound asleep. We didn’t have shades on the windows. The house was old with window AC units. The ceramic roof helped to keep us cool, and the nights when we didn’t have the AC on, we liked to crack the windows for a natural breeze.
I slipped to the window. With the nearly full moon, it was easy to see out onto my property, but it also meant someone could see inside.
A dark van was pulling down the lane with its headlights off. As I suspected, they were going extremely slow. Instinct, honed by years of sneaking into places I shouldn’t be, had the hairs on the back of my neck standing on end.
I went to the bed. Careful to only wake Lu, I put my hand to my lips when she roused. Chances were, whoever was coming down my drive had a spotter. Someone who was outside, or possibly inside, my house that signaled when everything was all quiet.
“Someone’s coming,” I whispered. “I need both of you to move down into the basement.”
“Who?” She didn’t argue. Just quickly grabbed Pua, who thankfully didn’t wake at being moved, and hurried to her feet. That’s my girl.
“Don’t know. I’ll be sure to ask before I kill them.”
Lu’s worried expression did not lessen. “Don’t fight alone. Mal and the twins are right down the road.”
Shit. I was exhausted, and my brain had just barely reminded me that Tangaloa wasn’t in the house. I forgot I had backup now. I looked around for my phone, but it wasn’t on my nightstand.
I grabbed Lu’s instead. Mine could be in a number of unknown places. I didn’t have time to go searching for it.
I was hurrying Lu out of our bedroom as I heard the slight squeak of the brakes outside my front door. Fuck. We had to go past the front door to get to the basement in the kitchen.
As quietly as we could, I dragged Lu down the hall. The basement was the safest place for them because it had Tangaloa’s secret room. And not just because there was a shit ton of weaponry inside.
I heard movement and very low voices on the front porch as we reached the basement stairs. Unfortunately, the old door creaked as it was opened. I ushered Lu down first. It was pitch black, but we were both familiar enough with the basement to navigate it. Once inside Tangaloa’s room, I flipped on the light switch.
Lu’s eyes went wide when she saw what was inside. She knew about Tangaloa’s business, but had never seen it firsthand before now. Pualani still looked out, even with the bright lights overhead. Good.
“Stay here. You might hear some things outside, but don’t come out unless it’smeat the door. Do you understand?” Lu nodded, her eyes wide. I pointed to the wall by the door. “Lock this. The door won’t open from the outside if that’s down.” I handed Lu her phone. “Call the others?—”
Echoes from above had me pausing. The fuckers were shooting up my house! Glass breaking, wood shattering, items clattering… The noises were dulled by the metal box we were standing in, but there was no doubting what they were.
“Aloiki…” Lu started, a plea in her voice.
I grabbed her face and kissed her, hard and fast. “Stay safe,” I ordered. “I’ll be right back.” I grabbed a bandolier of throwing daggers from the shelf to my left.
As I put my hand on the door to open it, Lu called out loudly, “Hey, asshole!” I looked back at her over my shoulder. “I’ll be pissed if you die.”
I shot a cocky smile at her before leaving the room. I heard the groan of the lock as she bolted it in place. These fuckers came tomy landand shot upmy housewithmy pregnant wahineinside? I strapped the bandolier over my shoulder, the handles of the dozen daggers cool to my skin. They were about to learn what happened when they brought guns to a knife fight.
Externally,my basement had two small windows and a storm cellar entry. Unfortunately, the fuckers currently shooting up my home were all standing on the same side of the house as those three points. The basement door, which currently resembled a slice of Swiss cheese, was my only exit that wouldn’t result in me dying before I made it two steps.
The basement itself was secure. Either they didn’t know it existed or they had no reason to believe any of the house’s occupants would be in it this time of night. Thank Ku I had been having trouble sleeping with shorts on. I was used to going through life barefoot, but even I was not looking forward to trudging through my house filled with debris. Not that it would stop me. These fuckers owed me blood. If I hadn’t been awake, if I hadn’t heard the van…?
I glanced up at my basement door. That would have been Lu and I. Pua too, though I highly doubted she was the target. If she hadn’t been here, Tangaloa would have. It was more likely that either he or I was the target.
It took some time for the bullets to stop. Not knowing if they were reloading or pausing to make entry, I slipped out the basement door and made a crouching run to the kitchen counters. The old wood hadn’t stood a chance. In fact, everything in my kitchen but the refrigerator was destroyed.
My hands started to tremble as my eyes landed on Pua’s tea set, now shattered pieces of plastic on my floor. I had to controlmy rage. Myniececould have been killed so easily tonight. She was just a baby. Innocent in the wars of men.
I heard the squeak of my front screen door. I couldn’t believe that fucking thing had survived. Of all the things in my house I would have been happy to see destroyed, that bastard was still standing.
Six men entered. If any one of them turned, they would see me crouching in the corner. But this was not a military or a police raid. These were thugs, wearing Bloody Scorpion cuts and balaclavas. Their goal was clearly the master bedroom, because they never even paused to check my kitchen, living room, or the basement.
I did not reach for any blades at my chest. They were there merely as insurance. I wanted these fuckers’ blood on myhands—and they moved themselves into the perfect bottleneck that gave me the advantage.
My house was old and the back hall that led to the bedrooms was only three feet wide. It forced these men to walk single file, and provided me their backs. Even if they all tried to come at me, it gave me the advantage so long as I kept them in the hall.
A quick glance out the window showed no more men outside. That didn’t mean there couldn’t be more men, but at least no more were looking to enter at the moment.
