“Yes, sir. I’ve informed her such actions could harm both herself and someone else. She understands she should never take that course of action again.”
“Good. She’s still amenable to testifying, right? We can’t afford for this one to get spooked.”
“Well, she’s pretty scared, being away from her friends and all. She lived at the resort for the last decade.”
“But do you think she’ll testify?”
Rick’s voice was half an octave higher now then when they started the conversation. The corners of Dante’s mouth curved up. He looked up at Mauna Kea. He almost felt the fallen leaves and twigs crunching beneath his hiking boots.
“If we can keep her comfortable here, sir, I think she’ll testify.”
There was a hesitant pause.
“Is there anything we can do to make her more comfortable?”
Target achieved. Dante paused for a few minutes, pretending to think.
“Well, she is an avid hiker. We do have some excellent, safe trails near the house. If you thought it was wise, I could take her hiking. She does love to hike, and I think it would take her mind off everything. She needs a diversion.”
There was a longer pause.
“You’ve hiked the area a lot?”
“Between almost every assignment. I wouldn’t have suggested it if I didn’t.” Dante paced, making a mental checklist of everything they needed for the hike.
“I don’t see why not, if you know the area. Take another man with you. If it keeps her comfortable and gives her the lay of the land, that should be fine.”
“Oh, great. She’ll be very excited.” Dante smiled into the phone.
“But Dante, I’m sure I don’t have to tell you how critical her safety is. If anything happens to her on this hike, or at all, there’ll be hell to pay for both of us.”
Rick’s stern warning gave Dante pause. He heard Rick say the exact same thing before he drove out to get Laurie to begin with.
“Rick, I’ve never let you down. I won’t start now.”
“No, you haven’t. That’s why I assigned you to this protection detail. You’re the best I have, Dante.”
“Thank you.”
“Keep her safe and see that’s she comfortable.”
“I will. Any news on Kaimi or Katherine and Easton?”
There was the sound of shuffling papers, and the beeping of Rick’s cell phone.
“No, nothing substantial. They think he may be skipping islands with them. Possibly a small speedboat involved. They’re not quite sure, but Evan James is raising hell over at the FBI field office.”
“Thank you, Rick. I’ll let you know if anything changes here.”
“Take care of her and your team.”
“I will.”
Dante hung up the phone, and walked back into the house. When he got to the kitchen, Laurie was laughing so hard at something Cheyn said, she looked almost purple. Dante bristled. Why was Cheyn still sitting here anyway?
“So what did the big boss say?” Cheyn smirked at him over his cereal.
“Said it was fine. Just need to take another man with me. I’ll need you to take David’s watch.” Dante smiled and shrugged.
“I thought I was going with you.” Cheyn’s brow furrowed as he studied Dante.
“David needs the experience, and you’re already up. We need at least one man on watch while Max sleeps.”
David poked his head into the kitchen.
“Boss, I’m okay with staying here if Cheyn wants to go. I’m not much of a hiker.”
Dante’s irritation magnified. Yet, it made sense to take Cheyn with him. He had wilderness training. David knew how to handle the watch. He took a breath. He didn’t know what he was getting so worked up about anyway.
“All right, David. You can stay, but I do want to get you out and exploring around the house at some point. Cheyn, get the wilderness gear ready. I’m going to finish breakfast. Then we can get going.”
“How can I help get ready?” Laurie turned her dazzling blue eyes on him.
“Just get yourself ready. Cheyn can handle the rest.” Dante sat down at the kitchen table.
He finished his cold breakfast, while Laurie went upstairs to change.
Cheyn got the backpacks together, and they left the house an hour later.
Dante followed an invisible path from the house up into the tree line. As they approached, he found the entrance to the narrow pathway that cut through the dense foliage. Ferns and low hanging palm trees almost blocked the mouth of the dirt path.
It felt so good to be outside, in the lush greenery. The sounds of the jungle enveloped him—calling birds, angry insects buzzing away from them, the leaves blowing in a light breeze. The rainforest got hot and sticky. They all began to sweat. Even the dense branches of the immense trees couldn’t keep them cool.
For the most part, they remained silent as they climbed, content to listen to the surrounding noise. Dante stopped every so often to point out the tracks of a dog, or cat. He even spotted wild boar tracks, as they headed higher toward the volcano. He showed Laurie how to tell if an animal had been through there recently or hours ago. He could identify several animals just by sound. He enjoyed teaching her.
All at once, the forest stopped at the base of the volcano. There was a short field of grass before even that disappeared into a swath of gravel, ash, and rock. They stopped for a little while to take a break and eat some of the snacks Cheyn had packed, lounging in the shade. The path curved around the base of the volcano to the right and left. As they stood up to continue, Cheyn started to the left.
“Cheyn!” Dante nodded to the right. “We’re going this way today.”
“That way? We’ve never gone that way.”
“I’ve gone this way before. Come on.” Dante led the way down the trail.
The path dove back into the forest. The decline was steep, much steeper than the climb they’d just made. As the slope deepened, Laurie took a step and the log she was balancing on faltered. She would have tumbled down, but Dante turned and caught her by the waist. She grabbed onto his shoulders, trying to steady herself.
“Easy, easy.” He shifted to give her all of his strength.
He held her up until she could regain her footing again. Her t-shirt rode up an inch or two, and his thumb grazed the cool, smooth skin of her stomach. He felt his temperature rise ten degrees.
“Sorry.” She turned almost crimson. “The log rolled on me.”
“That’s all right, just take it real slow.” Dante felt her muscles flex beneath his fingers and he sucked in a breath.
Laurie regained her balance. She looked up into Dante’s eyes.
His stomach lurched. Her eyes were luminous, vulnerable. Yet, something dark and hungry was there too. Dante barely glimpsed it before she blinked and it was gone. He released her waist.
Laurie released his shoulders.
“Thank you.”
“Boss, I think we should head back to the other path. It’s a lot easier than this one.” Cheyn came up beside them.
“Can’t do that. I promised Laurie I’d show her something, and this is the only path that will get us there.” Dante turned away from Laurie.
Cheyn threw him a quizzical look, but Dante ignored it.
Dante held out his hand to Laurie as they continued down the embankment.
Laurie tried not to take his help, but she almost slipped a second time. She gave up. She began balancing herself on his arm and shoulder.
He was all too happy to help. In the distance, a rushing sound grew steadily louder. They rounded a corner, and there was the waterfall he was looking for, cascading off the side of the volcano into a pool of blue-green water. All around the water’s edge orchids of all colors were in full bloom. The ground was covered in thick, green grass, with several rocks scattered about to sit on.
“It’s beautiful…” Laurie stood for a moment, staring up at it.
Dante smiled, watching pleasure bloom over Laurie’s cheeks and lips. Her eyes danced and they darkened from sapphire to twilight. A responding pleasure spread from his chest through his whole body until he was lightheaded with it. He wanted her to always look that way around him. He wanted her to look that way when she looked at him. He shook himself out of that last thought. He was traveling on a dangerous road. He shouldn’t let himself go any further.