She drove out to her brother’s house. A block one-story house, it was basic and plain, but Mano had spent a lot of time and money on the yard, and flowers bloomed along the lava-chip path to the door. As she approached, she saw Mano talking with another man. The man wore a navy uniform, and she saw the captain’s bars on his shirt. Mano stood at attention, but even from here she could see the tension in his jaw matched the rigidity in his back. His hands clenched and unclenched as he stared the other officer in the face.
Maybe she should stay in her truck. She didn’t want to interrupt something important. The officer shook his finger in Mano’s face, and it was all Kaia could do to stay in her vehicle and not fly to her brother’s defense. Mano wouldn’t thank her for humiliating him by interfering. She’d tried that once when he was in high school. He’d been in a schoolyard fight, and she’d launched herself onto the pad to pummel the back of a boy who had pinned him.
It had been months before Mano deigned to look at her or speak. Guys were weird about girls defending them. Kaia rolled her window down, but the wind was blowing the wrong direction for her to be able to hear. It rustled the leaves in the monkeypod tree along the driveway. She was going to have to wait it out.
Her nerves were already strung as tightly as vines through the jungle. She wondered if Mano’s obsession with Pele Hawai′i had gotten back to the navy. They wouldn’t be happy about one of their own putting himself in a potentially traitorous position.
Chewing on her thumbnail, she wondered what she could do to prove to Mano that his so-called friends were behind the problems at the base. Kaia was sure Nahele and his cohorts had been planning something the night she ran into them at the lagoon. If only she had some kind of proof. Mano was too firmly entrenched in their camp to listen.
Leaning her head back against the headrest, she closed her eyes. Her anger toward Curtis had waned, and the night’s hard work was beginning to take its toll. The buzz of insects outside and the rustle of the wind in the leaves soothed her, and she felt her muscles relax. She sank down into the welcome arms of sleep.
Kaia awoke and sat up. She glanced at her watch. It was nearly eleven. She’d been sleeping here for an hour and a half. She heard the roosters crowing, something that occurred any time of the day. Groaning as her muscles complained of their cramped position in the truck, she got out and headed to the house.
“Mano?” She opened the screen door and went inside, but her brother wasn’t in the small three-room house. He had a hobby shop in the shed out back. Maybe he was there. She went through the kitchen and out the back door. The shed’s door stood open, and she could hear the murmur of voices as she approached.
She recognized the deep tenor of her brother’s voice. The shop door opened outward, and she paused behind it where she couldn’t be seen. She shouldn’t be eavesdropping on Mano, but she had to know what was going on.
Peeking through the crack by the hinges, she could see the two men with her brother. One was a big Hawaiian. When he turned slightly, she could see a birthmark on the side of his nose. She thought she might have seen him at the Pele meeting she’d attended.
Nudging nearer the crack, she listened.
Mano was raising his voice. “I don’t know how you can question my loyalty. The navy just told me I have to quit the organization. I told them no. Because my boss likes me, he’s giving me the option to resign my commission or I’ll be court-martialed.”
The big man spoke. “We heard. But you’ve got to prove it to us one more time. The navy has taken our land long enough. They’re going to find out they have no right to be here.”
“What did you have in mind?” Mano’s voice was low and intense.
Kaia tensed. Surely her brother wouldn’t strike at the military. He’d been proud of his military service until Pele Hawai′i had twisted his values.
The other man laughed, but it wasn’t a nice sound. “I was thinking a nice, big bomb. Something that will put us on the front page of every paper.”
“What will that accomplish?”
At least Mano was questioning the insane suggestion. Kaia wondered if she should enter the shop and break up this little meeting. Mano would be furious though.
“They’ll know we’re about more than just talk. Our numbers will grow as Hawaiians see we are serious enough to put action behind our words.”
Mano seemed to weigh this. “Okay,” he finally said. “I’ve got an idea. Where do I get the explosives?”
Was that eagerness in his voice? Kaia wanted to slam the door and lock Mano in until she could get Bane and her grandfather here to talk sense into him. On second thought, he’d never listen to Bane. She was going to have to figure out a way to save Mano from himself.
The big man took a paper out of his pocket. “We have the firepower stashed here.” They all bent over the paper.