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“We don’t have much time before CGIS comes and takes over. Tell me about last night,” Cain said.
Dane stood next to the blown-out and blackened doorway. “We were coming up the stairs but stopped because the neighbor’s cat was loose. Mac picked it up and returned it to the lady.”
“Mrs. Mahelona,” Koa supplied.
“Right. She mentioned to Mac she’d seen another man coming out of her apartment earlier. Said he had strawberry-blond hair.”
“Earlier when?”
Dane cocked his head. “Ah, good question. Don’t know. You’re going to have to ask her.”
Koa walked over and tapped on Mrs. Mahelona’s door. It opened immediately. He spoke quietly to the elderly lady, who smiled up at him. She was holding the cat, which Koa petted while she spoke. Koa nodded and then came back to the group assembled at Mac’s apartment doorway.
Koa tipped his head back toward the neighbor’s apartment. “Oh-one-thirty to be exact. She was looking through her peephole, keeping an eye out for her cat. Some soap opera she likes reruns at that time. It had just started.”
“Here’s what I don’t get; how did they know Mac wasn’t home?” Tac said as he entered the huddle.
“All kinds of ways,” Dane answered. “Think about it. What would we do to figure out if someone was home? Track their cell, check security cameras, and look for their car. Her boss was part of the group that put the GPS tracker on Dane’s SUV. If he’d followed her to Candyland, he could have easily seen her get in the SUV. Plus, her car is down there. Maybe he has a tracker on her car as well. They could have assumed she was still in downtown Oahu.”
Cain let out a breath. “Let’s check that out immediately. That would answer a lot of questions, but mostly how much we can trust her. Although, after this, I think it’s safe to say she’s not involved in whatever is going on.”
Tac shook his head. “This is the craziest shit. I’ll head downtown and check out her car.”
“You’re not wrong, brother,” Jace agreed. “We haven’t really begun any kind of operation, and people are already trying to kill us.”
Dane shook his head. “Not us. Mac. This was meant for her.”
“Why?” Tac asked. “What the hell does she know that would get her killed? Is she holding out on us?”
Dane had been asking himself that same question for the last hour. Had she played him? Maybe she’d seduced him to get more information or keep him occupied so he didn’t pay attention. Was she part of the group selling the motherboards? No matter how hard he spun that idea around in his brain, he just couldn’t make it work. Definitely a case of one and one not equaling two.
He remembered back to them kissing in the kitchen. There was no dishonesty in that kiss. No, she was being truthful with him. He was certain. But then, she might be a good liar. Cops usually had to be to get the bad guys to open up, but she would have to be a Meryl Streep-level actress to pull off what she did last night, and he didn’t think she was that good of an actress.
He cocked his head. “What if she doesn’t know that she knows something?”
Koa stared at him. “You mean she’s seen something or heard something that could expose someone, but she doesn’t know it.”
“Exactly. Whoever did this is playing for all the marbles. They tried to kill a CGIS agent. That’s not something you do just for fun. This isn’t just about a drug shipment.”
“You think it’s about the other thing,” Cain stated.
He wasn’t going to risk saying anything about the stolen motherboards in public, but Dane knew exactly what he meant. “I do. I think we’re missing something. Hell, we’re missing the whole damn puzzle, but the sooner we figure this out, the better it is for Mac and everyone else. And here.” He pulled the black book out of his pocket. “I forgot about this last night. I took it from Owens’s safe. It’s in code.”
Cain took the book and flipped through the pages.
“I couldn’t figure it out, but I’m guessing it can’t be too difficult. The first column might be dates.”
“Agreed.” Cain pointed to Jace. “You said there’s a drone flying competition today.”
When Jace nodded, Cain instructed, “Go. Dane, you and Koa go with him. I want you three to try and find whoever flew that drone. We need to find those…uh, items as soon as possible. That drone is our only real lead.” He turned to Tac. “We’re gonna sort this mess here. Maybe figure out what the end goal was besides killing Rankin. Way too many explosives for her to be the only target, but we have to do it fast. I figure we have twenty minutes tops before the big guys show up and take over. When we’re done here, Tac and I will go downtown and get her car. Once we’re back at the hangar, we’re gonna dig into this book.”
“Sounds good,” Tac said. He turned to walk into the apartment but pivoted back. “Be safe guys. Keep your heads on a swivel and cover your six. This shit is weird. It could come at you from any angle.”
“Roger that.” Jace started toward the stairs, and Koa and Dane fell in step behind him.
An hour later, Dane was standing next to a bunch of teenage girls who were yelling and screaming while flying some kind of small drone. The sound was ear-piercing. He wished wholeheartedly that he had some pain meds with him. “Jace,” he said, “do you have any Advil? These kids are giving me a major headache.”
“Sorry, I left them in the car.”
