Michael shook his head. “No, I’ll go there at dusk, and will probably come by water.”
“Why do it the hard way?” I glanced to my right at the roiling Pacific. It was rough tonight; the radio announcer had said the waves would swell four to six feet.
“The waters and beaches are legally open to every man, woman and child in Hawaii. If we show up on the sandy beach on the other side of the mansion, technically we’re not trespassing. And as Courtney mentioned, there’s a camera at the regular entrance to the house.”
“There might be a camera in back too, Michael, and in any case, why can’t we just…” I broke off, remembering the answer to why we couldn’t walk along the beach. Huge rocks had been turned up from the ocean floor, in order to create the sandy swimming lagoons. These rocks were mounded between the public areas of Kainani, and the private area where the Kikuchi house lay, creating an insurmountable boundary.
“Approaching by water will be a cinch. I’ll line up Kurt and Parker to sail with me, and you can wait with Tom.”
“Who?” I asked, already excited.
“Kurt and Parker, of course. You can wait with Tom at your house, and if and when the timing is right, we’ll call you to join us.”
“It’s my family problem, just in case you haven’t noticed,” I said sharply. You can’t do it without me. You have no right.”
Michael was silent for a while, then said, “I love you, Rei. It’s not that I think you’re too weak for this. I just would prefer you not to see me behaving in a way that you haven’t before.”
“Oh, come off it, Michael. You’re going to have a conversation, not a Guantanamo Bay interrogation. And I know more about Calvin than you do. I should be there the whole time.”
Michael looked at me for a long moment. “All right, then. But don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
35
THE SUN WAS going down in a glorious, painted-velvet kind of a sunset when we cast off from the Waikiki Yacht Club. The crew for Four Guys on the Edge was a full one, since Karen had insisted on joining Michael, Kurt and Parker. Eric and Jody Levine had already flown home, or they would have probably helped.
“I can’t believe I’m supposed to fit in this,” I said, as I tried to pull a snug wetsuit top and shorts on, inside the boat’s cabin. Despite the warmth of the ocean, I had to wear the wetsuit, because it was the only way to both conceal and keep dry the tape-recording equipment Michael had bought.
“Vaseline helps,” said Michael, who was just wearing swim trunks and a polo shirt. It was very nice being rubbed down-in fact, I wished that the experience would lead to something other than a night sail across roiling seas to an unwelcoming place. But, as Michael had said to Tom, our detective friends from the Kapolei Police Department wouldn’t want to jump off to an unrelated mission at the same time they were booking Gerald Liang. Time was short, and we would have to act for ourselves.
The trip to Kainani was about twenty nautical miles, and with the winds as high as they were, the ride could be swift. The plan was to drop anchor several hundred feet down the beach from the Kikuchi mansion, and use a dinghy to get to shore. Kurt, Michael and I would use a walkie-talkie to stay in touch with Parker and Karen, who would stay on the boat and help us up when we returned with the dinghy.
I’d expected to be given a job on the boat, but I was advised to sit in the cockpit as Michael and the three others carefully guided Four Guys on the Edge out to sea. I’d thought the slow departure from the yacht club harbor would be the easy part, but there were so many obstacles to watch for-dozens of bobbing boats tied up on either side of the narrow channel as we were leaving, and moving boats either returning to the club or making their way out.
Once we were free of heavy boat traffic and sailing leeward, everyone relaxed, except for me. The boat pitched and dove in the choppy Pacific, and incomprehensible instructions flew back and forth between Michael and his friends.
“Did anyone check the forecast?” I asked when there was a lull in the shouting.
“Of course,” said Karen kindly. “It’s a beautiful night and we’ve got good sailing winds. No storms on the horizon.”
“Actually, it feels kind of stormy to me.” The winds were so strong, I would have considered it the best idea of all to abort the mission and return to Waikiki.
“Rei, you can stay aboard with Parker and me if you’re nervous about anything.”
“I’m not nervous.” I gulped, because in the last few minutes, my seasickness had started.
“Karen’s right. You can bail if you want,” Michael added.
“You mean bail right now?” Some water had sloshed over the side of the boat nearest me.
“Don’t worry about that!” Michael chuckled. “It’s all part of the experience. But if you’re not feeling well, go below deck for a little bit.”
“There is a bathroom there, right?” I asked as I half-crawled toward the stairs.
“It’s just a head. And don’t throw up in it, OK?” Kurt said.
I started down the steep staircase just as the boat pitched and I fell forward on my hands and knees and face.
“That’s the other thing,” Kurt called after me, laughing. “Always take the ladder backwards.”
AS I DABBED my scraped face with antiseptic from a first-aid kit Michael brought me, I thought to myself, if there was one person we didn’t need along, it was Kurt. But Michael had insisted and I’d remembered how in Japan, he always liked to have back up in case things became dangerous.
The cabin was tastefully fitted in teak and brass, and there was even a neatly made bunk where I could lie. But the air was hot and stagnant, and after ten minutes below, I felt the need for air. I climbed the ladder, facing the right way this time, and emerged just as the boat swung to one side, nearly shooting me across the deck. But I kept my balance this time and crept back to the cockpit, gulping the salt air.
AS WE APPROACHED Barbers Point, the winds changed and almost seemed to swirl in circles. Kurt and Michael were furiously working to release lines from cleats, and Parker was shouting from the helm while Karen cranked the winch. All I could think about was how much longer would it be to Kainani-and whether I’d make it without being sick.
I realized after a few minutes that Michael was calling for me to join him. “Is this the house, Rei?”
I crawled over, took Kurt’s night-vision binoculars, and started to rise. Michael put his arm around me to help steady me, and slowly I took in what I’d never seen before: the resort from the water. Here was the twenty-story Kainani Cove Inn, the row of wedding chapels, and the time-share tower. And there, past a heavy border of volcanic rocks and shrubbery, was the white Kikuchi mansion, with a few lights on.
Karen dropped anchor at a spot that seemed to me was quite far from shore, although Kurt opined that the position was too close. Michael said firmly, ‘It’s perfect.” Then to me, ‘One last chance to decide what you’re doing, Rei. I won’t love you any less if you decide to stay aboard, but once we’re in the water, there’s no going back.”
“You can’t do it without me,” I said. “Let’s go.”
The crash of the dinghy dropping into the water cut through the sound of the wild winds. Michael and Kurt dropped in first; I handed down a waterproof box containing the walkie-talkie and other supplies, which Michael strapped to himself in a waterproof equipment belt. At last, I climbed down a small ladder on the side of the sailboat and joined them.
I’d never been this far out in an ocean before, and certainly, never been tossed about on such waves. As Michael and Kurt rowed, I recalled the sharks in Gerald Liang’s gate design. If we capsized, my lifejacket could save me from going under, but not from sharks.