Chapter Four
Hogan stood outsidethe van, fists jammed into his hips, anger boiling in his chest.The night air was cool, the sound of the waterfall muted by the pounding in his ears.Kai had been trying to shoulder this storm alone—DEA moles, Kavaci expansion, goddamn assassins in the shadows.And Hogan?He’d been on the sidelines, watching the man bleed out secrets like they were nothing.It ate at him.He was supposed to be the one to carry weight, to shield the people he cared about.Not watch from the periphery while Kai destroyed himself piece by piece to save him and his team.
And then Chechnya.The memory came jagged, not whole, and to be fair, a lot of it was pieced together from conversations with his team and the reports.Amnesia did not play fair.The truth of the matter was that he remembered very little of that mission three years ago, the one that had gone to hell in a hurry.
But he knew that they’d been ordered to advance into a village—intel said it was clear, soft ground.Bullshit.It had been a trap.A kill box.They had managed to escape, because they were fucking awesome, but not without a loss—Bateman was taken.He had stepped in front of Ricky and taken a taser to the chest, and that was it.Ultimately, Bateman had been taken because of that order, because Command had thrown them into a pit they never should’ve been in.
In the end, they’d all come out wounded, broken, scarred.Hogan had walked away without memory of the eight months before it.Eight months erased, leaving holes where there should have been a life.It infuriated him.He could accept scars, could accept failure—but not ignorance.Not knowing.And yet here he was, standing under Hawaiian stars and realizing he knew things he shouldn’t.
So why the hell did he know Kai’s cereal preference?Why did he know he drank soy milk?Why did the cadence of Hawaiian curses feel so familiar on his tongue?How did he know the words Kael and Kai spoke on the call before, and their translation.A hui hou, until we meet again.Malama pono, take care.None of it made sense—unless the truth was exactly what he feared.He and Kai had known each other before Chechnya.Maybe more than known.And he had forgotten.
He stormed back into the van, slamming the door hard enough to rattle the glasses in their holders.Kai looked up from the table, laptop still glowing, intel spread out around him.The man looked steady, calm, but Hogan could see the faint tightness at the corner of his mouth.He knew Hogan was wound up.
“Were we in a relationship before Chechnya?”Hogan demanded, voice blunt as a fist.
Kai’s eyes flickered, but he didn’t answer right away.
“Don’t skirt me, Kai.I want the truth.”
For a long moment, silence stretched.Then Kai nodded once.“Yes.But you need to remember it in your own time.If there’s anything you need now, I’ll tell you.But don’t force it, Ace.We’re here, we’re safe.Take the time to get to know me again.”
The words scraped, rougher than Hogan expected, but there was no mistaking the sincerity.Hogan sat down heavily across from him, chest tight, and dragged the intel pack closer.Surge’s files laid it all out in grim detail—the Kavaci, splintered but united under the Bratya, five heads of a single beast driving expansion.Child and sex trafficking.And Hawai’i—Hawai’i Nei—marked as a keystone hub.
Hogan flipped page after page, jaw tightening.Pictures.Names.Charts.Money flowing like water through shell companies.Flight logs tying men to islands where children vanished.The ugliness was raw and close.“Why Hawai’i?Why not anywhere else?”he asked, voice low and sharp.
Kai exhaled.“God, take your pick of good reasons.Great access with strong shipping lanes, a year-round supply of tourists and transients, and it’s easier to hide in paradise.Nothing poisons faster than selling children from your own backyard.”His tone cracked, betraying more emotion than he probably meant to show.
Hogan’s gut twisted.The files were worse than anything he’d expected.He’d seen cartel violence, seen warlords burn villages, but this?Children sold like products.The Bratya had turned paradise into a market.
“Five heads to this beast,” he muttered, scanning the list.“Five men running this monster.”
Kai nodded grimly.“Each one controls a sector—distribution, recruitment, laundering, security, and expansion.Cut off one, the others adapt.But take them all down ...that’s how you stop it spreading.”
Silence settled, thick as smoke.Hogan glanced at Kai.He looked tired, bruised, still healing, but his eyes were hard.He wanted this fight.Needed it.
The laptop pinged, breaking the moment.Kael’s face appeared, grin easy but eyes sharp.“Hey, braddah.We’re bringing dinner.Me and the boys are heading out your way.We’ll talk when we get there.”
Hogan leaned forward, studying the man—Kai’s brother, leader of Black Tide.He looked like trouble and salvation rolled into one.“Bring plenty ofkalua pigandpoke,” Hogan said flatly.“It looks like we’ve got a war to plan.”
The screen went dark.Hogan leaned back, pulse still pounding.Outside, the night pressed close.Inside, the weight of what they’d just read settled over them both.Five heads of a monster.And a war that had only just begun.
****
Kai heard the rumbleof engines before the lights cut across the trees.A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth despite the ache in his side.Two matte-black Mercedes Sprinters, identical to the one they lived in rolled up the track, headlights dimmed, the sound of gravel crunching under thick tires.Black Tide had arrived.
Doors opened first, and introductions came the way they always did—with presence, not ceremony.Kael stepped out, tall and broad, hair tied back, arms inked from shoulder to wrist in black Polynesian patterns that spoke of lineage and loss.His eyes, sharp and steady, flicked from Kai to Hogan.“Braddah,”Kael said, pulling Kai into a careful hug that didn’t jostle his healing ribs.“You look alive.That’s enough for me.”
Kai smirked.“Alive, thanks to him,” he said, jerking his chin toward Hogan.
Next came Niko, the pilot and strategist.Lean, quick-eyed, with sun-bleached hair and a grin that carried too much mischief.“You still know how to land yourself in trouble, Kai,” he said, clapping him on the shoulder.Tattoos curled up his neck like waves.“Good thing you got an Ace watching your six now.”
