“I’m too young to nap like a baby,” Mano heard his grandfather call. He grinned. “Tell T?t? Kane if he’s good you’ll bring him a new whoopee cushion.”
His mother chuckled. “That would do it.” He heard the sound of her steps. “Let me make sure I can find the bankbook.” There were more noises, then he heard her give a grunt of satisfaction. “Here it is. I’ll go now.”
“Great.” He thanked her and closed the phone, started the car, and drove to town. Along the way, he watched for Tomi’s familiar slender form, but he passed only a family of hikers. He’d tried to keep his worry from showing to Annie, but he thought Tomi was in real trouble. And Mano wasn’t sure how to get him out.
He parked at the bank and saw the same car Tomi had pointed out. Maybe that meant Tomi had eluded the men. Mano got out and started toward the bank. He heard quick steps behind him, but before he could turn, someone took his arm in a tight grip.
“We’d like to have a word with you.”
Mano tried to jerk his arm free and looked to see who accosted him. There were two of them, both Middle Eastern from their looks. The one who had hold of Mano’s arm had bulky muscles and was dressed in black.
They propelled Mano toward their black Ford. The back passenger door was open. Mano knew he needed to get out of this now. He pretended to trip, and the man’s hand on his elbow slackened. Mano wrenched his arm free and whirled to run to the bank. There were security personnel in there. He sprinted up the steps and through the glass front doors into the lobby.
When he burst into the bank, he looked around for the security officer. The man’s head jerked up, and his eyes widened when Mano slid to a panting halt in front of him. His hand went automatically to his gun.
“Outside,” Mano gasped. “Call the police. Two men tried to abduct me.”
The security officer grabbed his radio and called it in. Mano went to the window and looked out, but the black Ford was gone. The men must have known he’d call the police. What could they want with him? Maybe to see if he knew where Tomi was holed up.
“The police are on their way, sir,” the security officer said. “Are you injured?”
“No, I’m fine.” Maybe he should have talked to the men. He might have been able to find out more information. No. It wouldn’t have been safe to allow himself to be pushed into a car.
Sam came running through the door. He stopped when he saw Mano. “Oana, what happened?”
“Two thugs tried to force me into their car.” Mano described the car and the men.
“Any idea what they wanted? Could it be navy related?”
“I don’t think so. I think they might be the ones who broke into the Tagama house.”
Sam barked orders at a couple of his men, who hurried outside to look around. “You have any idea why a couple of Arab men would be breaking into homes and trying to abduct you?”
Mano ignored Sam’s sarcastic tone. “I think they wanted to know where Tomi is.”
Sam nodded. “I’m listening.”
Mano was going to have to be careful. He didn’t want to get Tomi in even more trouble. “They seem to be after him for some reason.” That was lame. Sam was going to want to know why he thought the men were after Tomi.
“Some SEAL mission.” His eyes bright, Sam straightened. “Maybe they planted Tomi’s dog tags.”
Mano knew when special ops got in someone’s blood it was hard to get it out. Sam had been a SEAL for six months before he injured his knee. “Maybe. There’s something else. I’ve seen a man in the Aloha Shores and around town who calls himself Tab Watson.”
“The last person to see Leilani.”
“Right. His real name is Kim Aki. And he was involved in a plot to blow up a munitions cache at Barking Sands a few months ago.”
Sam raised his brows. “You think it’s related?”
“I don’t know, but I’d like to go with you to question him.”
“I do my own investigative work.” Sam turned to speak to his men.
At least he wasn’t going to have to explain about Tomi any further. Sam had jumped to an assumption and seemed eager to help Tomi now. But Mano would have to find a way to force Sam into taking him to talk to Aki. He went to the desk and told the teller he wanted to catch up the Tagama mortgage. Fifteen minutes later he was five thousand dollars poorer, but richer for the contentment that flooded him at finally doing something to help Annie.
Annie dressed for worship with a sense of adventure. For the first time that she could remember in years, she actually wanted to go. She’d read her Bible two nights straight now and was beginning to see that her priorities were all wrong.
She went to the kitchen. Wilson followed her. His squeak was the one he used when he was hungry, so she fed him first, a mixture of grubs and larvae she bought at the pet store in Hilo. Sometimes he ate cat food, but he preferred his natural diet. He growled softly as he gulped down his food, then looked up to her for more.