“Rex,” Hawk answered, “tell me what’s happening.”
“I have Ms. Kekoa with me. You’re on speaker.”
“Kimo,” Hawk said. “How are you feeling?”
“Alive. Not yet one-hundred percent, but getting there,” Kimo said. “Rex will fill you in.”
Rex took over and filled Hawk in on what had occurred since he’d texted his boss that he’d arrived at the hospital and found Kimo.
“I’m glad you’re with her,” Hawk said. “Kalea was worried about her and Alana.”
“Have you heard from the guys you sent out on the water?” Rex asked.
“I just got word from them,” Hawk said. “I’m sorry to say they didn’t find Alana or the missing boat. I touched base with my contact at the Coast Guard headquarters on Oahu. They’d sent out a helicopter, but they haven’t had any more luck either.”
“What about the shipping container?” Kimo asked. “Did the Coast Guard find it?”
“I talked to my Maui contact half an hour ago. They went to the coordinates you gave us.” Hawk paused. “They didn’t find a container or bodies.”
Kimo’s face paled.
“Are you sure of the coordinates you gave us?” Hawk asked.
“I used them to relocate the box on our second dive. They were accurate,” Kimo said. “They didn’t find the container?”
“No,” Hawk reconfirmed.
“How can that be possible?” Kimo shook her head, her brow creasing. “It was there. Alana and I saw it. We pried it open to look inside. The bodies...” Her voice trailed off. “It was surreal, like a scene from a horror film.”
“Is it possible for a twenty-foot shipping container to be dragged up from the ocean floor in the amount of time it took for Kimo to get to help?” Rex asked.
“Since it was almost four hours from the time of the attack to when she notified the police, there’s a chance someone could’ve located and removed the container. But it would have to be someone with specialized equipment and a boat or ship large enough to handle it.”
“I should’ve gotten help sooner,” Kimo said. “I took too long.”
“It’s not your fault you were attacked.” Rex slipped an arm around her and gently pulled her close. The woman had been through a lot. “And it’s not your fault they took your friend.”
“But I should’ve done more.” Her body trembled against Rex.
“You did the best thing by getting away from them and letting people know what happened,” Hawk assured her.
“Hawk, could we pull Swede in on this conversation?” Rex turned to Kimo. “Swede’s the tech guy I told you about.”
“On it,” Hawk said.
A moment later, another voice joined the call.
“Swede here. Hawk gave me the digest version of what’s going on. What can we do to help?”
“Is it possible to reclaim files that have been wiped clean from an online storage site?” Rex asked.
“It’s possible, but it depends. Does the online storage site have automated backups? If so, how often do they perform the backups? Did you save a copy on your desktop? If so, does your desktop or laptop have another data backup system protecting your data?”
Kimo pinched the bridge of her nose. “I don’t know the answers. All I know is that when I logged into my online storage service, my files were gone.”
“Text me the name of your service and your username and password,” Swede said. “I’ll see what I can find.”
“If you manage to get to that data,” Rex said, “look for the images she uploaded last night. There should be one of the shipping container, sitting on the ocean floor. Look for any identifying marks on it that might lead us to its origin.”
