Robert Walker - Primal Instinct

He took in a deep breath of air. “I still think we can find some time here for ourselves. I've got enough equipment and food to last, and I've got a radio. We can call it quits whenever we like.”

“ We're going to dive here, you mean?”

“ That's if you'll… if you're still willing, yes.”

“ Jim, you want to come clean? Just… just tell me what's going on here.” She was both hurt and angry.

“ I planned to drop our gear here, have Lee take our bags on to the hotel and pick us up tomorrow. It's only ten minutes to Kahului, the island's main commercial airport and relative civilization, if you want to go back to Oahu, Jess.”

“ So, tonight you planned that we'd be roughing it, and tomorrow we'd make a dive near the Spout? Is that it?”

“ It's rough, but not near so rough a dive as the Blow Hole. I plan to get in as closely as good sense and safety allow.”

“ Good sense, huh? On the off chance we could be more successful here than the Navy divers had been in Oahu? Just tell me, Jim, what is the nature of this probe you're suggesting?” She had to secredy admit, she was intrigued even though he hadn't been completely truthful. “Do you have any facts here, or is this a hunch you're following?”

“ I've studied every inch of every police report filed on the missing girls here on Maui. One report mentioned some strange bird who was rousted for driving under the influence, caught pulling out of this area late one night. The reason it was in the report at all was that the car matched the description of one given by a witness in a later case, but a Lopaka Kowona was sought out afterwards, questioned and let go. The information was buried under stacks, and even I'd forgotten about it until we got Lopaka's name again.”

“ So knowing about the Spout, you came here.”

He nodded, saying no more.

She asked, “Did all the missing girls live in the vicinity of the airport in Kahului or along the Hana Highway?”

“ No, not really. They're from all over the island, but quite a few disappeared from Lahaina, the busiest tourist area where the old whaling sites and village are. The streets are lined with shops, row on row.”

“ I know, I've been there,” she confessed. “Dropped a bundle.”

“ Of course you know already that information places our man here on the island some years ago, during which time the disappearances became frequent during the season for the trades.”

“ I'm more interested in recent history, Jim. What makes you think he's here and not on Molokai or elsewhere?”

He shrugged and explained his reasoning, not forgetting to tell her that whatever path Joe Kaniola had wanted him to take, he felt compelled to move in the opposite direction.

“ So he says Molokai?”

“ Yeah, that's right.”

“ So you theorize Maui, and you know about the Spout, and you come directly for Lopaka's old dumping site. Not bad. Parry. Careful or somebody's going to call you slick.”

“ I just put it together.”

“ Rather pady, don't you think?”

“ Hey, two and two is always pat. The Spout's too good a connection to blow off.”

“ What about all those Kowona sightings we were getting all over Oahu?” she asked. “Like Elvis sightings?”

“ Ever notice how nobody's seen Roy Orbison's obese ghost anywhere?” he joked.

“ Suppose our being here's a mistake, Jim. Suppose one of those sightings on Oahu was correct. What then?”

“ You face it. Kowona sightings have come in from every bloody corner of every island except Maui. That makes me suspicious as hell.”

“ Are you sure your coming here has been the right step, Jim?” she persisted. “I want to know why you're committed to this move.”

“ It's what Gagliano and I've been able to pick up on the street, and like I said, it goes contrary to what Joe Kaniola would have us believe.”

“ But why would Kaniola want Kowona to escape, to go free? Just to hurt you, Jim? That doesn't figure.”

“ I'm not so sure Kaniola isn't working up to another revenge hit, like what happened to Oniiwah, only now he has the right target.”

“ You don't really think Kaniola had anything to do with George Oniiwah's death, do you?”

“ I'm not one hundred percent convinced that he didn't, no. Ahh, maybe not. I don't know.”

“ Just playing on hunches and guts, huh?”

“ So whataya think?” he asked with a boyish, disarming smile. “Are you in or out? Lee can take you straight to the airport and you can be back in Honolulu in a few hours. What's it to be?”

She frowned, shook her head and stared down at the blinking black beach over which Lee had hovered as if to tempt her on. “You've thought this through thoroughly, haven't you?”

“ Sometimes ideas come to me after a good sleep.”

Off Hana, the night sky was telling them they had very little time to decide. Over the headphones, the pilot cut into their conversation, saying, “I can set down on the ledge at the strip, but it'll have to be now, Mr. Parry.”

“ Put her down, Lee,” said Jessica.

Parry placed a hand over hers. “You won't regret it.”

“ I've heard that line before.”

The chopper put down at a small strip just the other side of the cliff wall. Parry climbed out behind her, tugging at a large duffle containing much of what they needed, including most of their diving gear. The pilot opened a compartment in the belly of the chopper and began hefting out air tanks, complaining that they were the reason the bird was so sluggish. Jessica hadn't noticed a moment's sluggishness in the aircraft, and had in fact thought it capable of duplicating any aviary movement without the slightest awkwardness.

“ When's somebody going to invent a lightweight air tank that's affordable?” the pilot continued, lamenting aloud for no one in particular.

The air strip, built for the heavy commercial chopper traffic that buzzed about the islands, was deserted this time of night. “Make a lot better time for Kahului without all the weight,” Parry assured the pilot, slipping him a hefty tip. “And thanks, Lee.”

“ You give a holler when you want me back,” he replied. “And I hope you'll enjoy lovely Hana and her waters. I'll see your bags go on to the inn.”

“ The inn,” she repeated for Jim's benefit. “Hmmmm, you do plan carefully, don't you?” And for the first time since seeing the Spout, she realized that the charter was in fact a commercial deal, not FBI issue after all. This then refueled her earlier suspicion that Parry was doing something counter to his own best interest here.

Tugging him away from the pilot, she said, “James Parry, you're disobeying orders, aren't you?”

“ What the hell're you talking about now?” he replied. “Come on, we've got to set up a tent and build a fire on the beach.”

She frowned and scowled and stared at the departing helicopter as it lifted, leaving them in the wilderness of Hawaii, quite alone on their own private black sand beach.

“ I've always wanted to walk on a black sand beach,” she admitted, “but I want to know just what we're doing here, Jim. This is an unauthorized campaign, isn't it?”

“ I can see there's no keeping a secret from you.” He hefted as much of the equipment as he could carry. “Grab a tank, and follow me down to the beach. I'll explain along the way.”

She hefted two tanks.

“ Hey, take it easy. We're going to have to make two trips regardless, so…”

“ Just move out and show me the way, and thanks for insisting I wear jeans.” He shook his head, smiled and moved out ahead of her toward the winding little footpath that would take them to the ocean edge and its volcanic, exotic black sand, which, in the approaching night, sparkled as if some magical stardust had been sprinkled by island angels, the jeweled flakes blinking under the moon. A sparkling gift of the sea.