Kimo shook her head. “Children.”
“That’s right,” Swede said. “The friends he invites to his parties don’t just turn a blind eye. They participate in his activities and the cover-up. Vaughan’s yacht and some of his various residences had been involved in several FBI sting operations and the authorities had come up with nothing. They’d suspected he’d gotten adequate warning before the inspections took place. Enough to hide his crimes diver propulsion vehicles.”
“They had a mole inside,” Kimo said.
“My father called it,” Rex said. “Vaughan and his cronies are untouchable. They can get away with murder.”
“And they have, several times, according to the dark web. Whenever someone thinks they have evidence that can stick, they disappear, or their bodies are found before they can testify in court.”
“Jesus,” Kimo whispered. “Which could mean that the bodies in that shipping container could’ve been young girls, lost because someone warned them about a surprise inspection.” Acid roiled in her belly.
“Which means we need to catch Vaughan in the act,” Rex said.
Hawk’s voice came on. “He wouldn’t get his hands dirty. He’d send in his henchmen.”
“How do we smoke him out?” Angel asked.
“Call his bluff,” Kimo said.
Rex frowned down at her. “What do you mean?”
“Whoever is holding Alana must have a link or contact with Vaughan,” Kimo reasoned. “Vaughan doesn’t want the evidence to get out, no matter how many people he has under his thumb. We go directly to Vaughan and call his bluff.” She met Rex’s gaze. “Make him collect the evidence himself.”
“If I don’t see him with Alana alive, when I go to make the trade,” she said, “I leave and turn the evidence over to someone who isn’t on his payroll.”
“You don’t get it,” Angel said. “He’s not going to let you or Alana get out of this alive. You’re witnesses. If you go alone to trade the disk for Alana’s life, Vaughan gets the disk and kills both of you.”
Her heart sank. “Then how do I get Alana back without either one of us being killed?”
“I don’t know,” Rex said. “All I know is that you can’t turn the disk over to Vaughan. If he has that, he has no reason to keep you and Alana alive.
Kimo held out her hand. “Then maybe you should hold onto this.” She dropped the disk into Rex’s hand. “Though we still have no way of getting Alana out of Vaughan’s clutches.”
“I’m thinking about it,” Rex said. “Even if we manage to free Alana, the two of you are witnesses who’ve seen the bodies in the submerged storage box. Vaughan won’t want loose ends. He won’t trust the two of you to keep quiet about what you saw. You’ll never be safe.”
“They won’t keep Alana alive forever,” Kimo said.
Rex nodded. “Whatever we decide, we have to do it quickly. By now, he’ll have figured out you found the camera. Even if he thinks he has the evidence, he won’t want you running around telling everyone he’s a murderer.”
“Then maybe I should go ahead and offer to make the trade, but demand I do it with Vaughan, not his thugs.”
Rex shook his head. “You’ll have the same end result.”
“Then what can I do?”
“Rooster, Bennett, Logan and Ingram are inbound from Oahu,” Hawk said. “They should be arriving at the airport around now. I’ll land within the next ten minutes. I suggest we?—”
A loud boom shook the boat.
Rex shoved Kimo down onto the deck and covered her body with his.
Screams sounded as the smoke cleared.
The Brotherhood Protectors leaped to their feet. Rex helped Kimo up while Angel gave Leilani a hand.
“What the hell was that?” Leilani cried.
Flame rose from a shop halfway down the pier.
