“Hurry!”
He dropped the gear shift into drive and punched the accelerator. Careening around curves, he made the trip to Orson Kauhi’s in ten minutes. The glowing numbers on the dash said it was nearly nine thirty. They had only two and a half hours to figure this out if he was right, and he prayed he wasn’t. Unless they got a real break, it would be impossible to figure out which heiau was to be used.
Annie was opening her door before he brought the car to a complete halt. Her limp was pronounced as she raced over the loose rock to Kauhi’s cabin. Mano grabbed his gun from the glove box and tucked it into his belt, then caught up with her before she got to the house. “Hang on,” he whispered. “He’s likely to shoot us both.”
“I don’t care. We have to make him tell us where they have her.”
“If they have her. I could be wrong.”
“But you might be right.” She went to the door and pounded on it. “Orson, it’s Annie. I have to talk to you.” She kept pounding, but no one came to the door. Tears glistened in her eyes when she finally turned around and stared up at him. “What if he’s at this ceremony too?”
Mano didn’t want to tell her it was hopeless, that he didn’t know where else to look. Rubbing the back of his neck, he turned to stare out over the lava field. “Let’s assume they’re at a sacrifice. They’d surely use the volcano itself. Where are the hot spots right now? Are there any big skylights or open craters?”
She nodded. “A few. The biggest one is out by the ocean.”
“That might be important to them. Can you take me there?”
It looked like she was biting her lip hard enough to draw blood. “I’ll try,” she whispered. “We can drive part of the way there, but we’ll need my SUV.”
They hurried back to the car and drove down the road to the Tagama house, where they exchanged his car for her SUV.
“I’ll drive,” Annie said. “I know where I’m going.” She drove along Devastation Trail to a rutted lane of crushed lava rock. “Hold on, it’s going to get bumpy.”
Mano grabbed the hand rest on the door. Wilson squeaked and wiggled against Mano’s hold. The Pathfinder lurched along the one-lane road. One wheel hit a pothole, and he thought they were going to be hung up, but the SUV plodded on.
Finally Annie stopped the vehicle. “This is as far as we can go on wheels. We’ll have to walk from here. It usually takes me two hours to walk it in the daylight.”
Mano looked at the clock again. Nearly ten. He winced. “Let’s go.” He had grabbed his flashlight from his car, and Annie took another from the glove box. She joined him at the front of the SUV. The moon was so bright they didn’t need their flashlights to see the path in front of them.
“I’m surprised we don’t see other sightseers,” he said. He realized he had Wilson in his arms and handed the mongoose to Annie. She tucked the animal into her shirt. Mano patted his pocket to make sure he had his gun.
“This is a spot we don’t tell the tourists about. It’s too dangerous.” Her voice quavered.
He could feel her fear and wished he could take it away. If he could find the spot by himself, he’d tell her to stay back, but he needed her. “You can do it, Annie.” He squeezed her hand. She squeezed back but didn’t say anything.
His breath rasped in his throat from the exertion. The breeze brought an occasional whiff of sulfur to his nose. They were rushing faster than was safe, but they had no choice if they hoped to get there before midnight. And what if they got out there and no one was there? He realized he should have called Sam. What was he thinking? They’d been so intent on rushing to Leilani’s rescue, all rational thought had left his head.
He paused at the top of a hill. Annie’s exhausted panting made him worry. “Rest a second.” Digging his cell phone out, he clicked it on and waited for a signal.
Annie shook her head. “Don’t bother. You can’t get a signal out here.”
“I was going to call Sam.”
“I thought of that too. But Fawn will have called him by now.”
“She won’t know what to tell him.”
“She knows enough to tell him to check out Gina.”
“He won’t know it’s crucial to look tonight. Besides, what if it’s not Gina at all? There’s no guarantee she’s involved with the cult. Maybe I was grasping at straws.”
“I still think it’s her, Mano.” She stopped and grabbed his arm. “Wait, I just remembered something. She has a collection of Greek figurines. Her favorite one is Nemesis. The goddess of revenge.” She grabbed his hand. “It’s Gina, Mano!”