He drew in a visibly deep breath. “The reason none of this makes sense is that I’m not Lincoln Kerr.”
19
Stunned silence reigned in the Nahele Research Camp. Rory didn’t know if he should focus on Mathilda, whose opinion he obviously cared about the most, or Robert, who looked ready to knock him on his ass.
“Then who are you?” Robert demanded.
“I’m Rory Baker. I’m Lincoln’s pilot.”
He turned to Mathilda, who took a step away from him.
“You…you lied?” She pressed her hand against her chest, as if he’d just knocked the breath out of her. Her eyes were wide with confusion. “This whole time?”
“I lied. After we crashed, I thought it would give us a better chance of survival if our rescuers thought they were dealing with someone powerful instead of an ordinary pilot. That was before I knew who our rescuers were, of course.”
He still couldn’t tell the whole truth, and that pained him deeply. All he wanted at this point was to clear his conscience and be truthful. But thanks to his promise to Lincoln, he still couldn’t entirely do that. He couldn’t mention anything about the thing he was supposed to guard, for instance. Which was not gone, in the hands of the kidnappers.
“So Lincoln Kerr…” Robert gazed into the jungle after the vanished commandos.
“Was just kidnapped, yes.”
“That makes a little more sense, anyway. Couldn’t see why they’d grab a pilot. No offense.” Robert shrugged his big shoulders.
“None taken, believe me. Listen, I’m sorry I deceived you all. It seemed like the best thing to do at the time. Maybe it wasn’t. The more time went on, the harder it got to keep up the pretense. I wanted to tell you all?—”
“Then why didn’t you?” Mathilda snapped. “At any point, you could have told us the truth.”
He winced, since she had a very valid point. “It’s complicated. I was trying to protect Lincoln. I decided that once he woke up, he could make the call about how to proceed.”
“So he knew you were pretending to be him?” Sasha waved away an early morning mosquito. “I suppose that could explain some of the strange things he said when he woke up.”
“Honestly, I don’t know what he knew. I told him as soon as he woke up, but he was still pretty disoriented. Obviously we’d have to tell the truth at some point, definitely once we got to the hospital in Hilo. Before the crash…” He hesitated, choosing his words carefully. “I got the sense he was worried about something. I didn’t want people knowing he was vulnerable. But it looks like those guys came in here and knew exactly where to find him.”
“Biometric signature.” The British accent had them all turning toward the newest arrival, a sleepy, bedraggled Philip Phelps. “Wouldn’t be difficult. I take it the poor fellow has disappeared?”
They all gaped at him. “Did you sleep through the whole thing?” Rory demanded.
“I did indeed.” He yawned widely. “Is there any tea to be had?”
“Diane is our tea purveyor,” Sasha told him. “She has an extensive collection of herbal mixes. Have you tried mamaki? She harvests it up in Waimea and—” She shook her silvery head. “What am I even saying? No tea for you until you tell us if you had anything to do with this.”
“Me? How could I? I just arrived. I didn’t even see what happened.” After those tough, fit commandos, Philip Phelps looked even more ridiculous in his jungle camouflage gear. On him, those clothes looked like a costume instead of a uniform.
Nevertheless, he’d made it to this camp on his own, without the help of a helicopter. It wouldn’t do to underestimate the man.
“That’s Sasha’s point,” Rory told him. “You show up, and then one day later, a whole gang of armed kidnappers appears. Are you working with them? Did you verify Lincoln’s presence for them? Do you know where they’re taking Lincoln?”
At each question, Philip Phelps kept shaking his head ‘no,’ and Rory was inclined to believe him. “If you’re trying to shift blame to me, it’s not going to work,” he said primly. “I do believe you’re the one who’s been perpetrating a fraud, not I.”
“Fraud’s a little strong, don’t you think?”
“Identity theft is a crime, is it not?”
“Sure, but I haven’t spent his money or used his credit cards or?—”
“Wait.” Mathilda held up her hand. “You offered to donate equipment and funding. Was that a lie? Or fraud?”
“Lincoln will back me up on all that because I was trying to protect him while he was in a coma.” Rory rolled his shoulders in frustration. This was not how he’d wanted this to go down. What a disaster.
