Shimura Trouble

35

THE SUN WAS going down in a glorious, painted-velvet kind of a sunset when we cast off from the Waikiki Yacht Club. The crew for Four Guys on the Edge was a full one, since Karen had insisted on joining Michael, Kurt and Parker. Eric and Jody Levine had already flown home, or they would have probably helped.

“I can’t believe I’m supposed to fit in this,” I said, as I tried to pull a snug wetsuit top and shorts on, inside the boat’s cabin. Despite the warmth of the ocean, I had to wear the wetsuit, because it was the only way to both conceal and keep dry the tape-recording equipment Michael had bought.

“Vaseline helps,” said Michael, who was just wearing swim trunks and a polo shirt. It was very nice being rubbed down-in fact, I wished that the experience would lead to something other than a night sail across roiling seas to an unwelcoming place. But, as Michael had said to Tom, our detective friends from the Kapolei Police Department wouldn’t want to jump off to an unrelated mission at the same time they were booking Gerald Liang. Time was short, and we would have to act for ourselves.

The trip to Kainani was about twenty nautical miles, and with the winds as high as they were, the ride could be swift. The plan was to drop anchor several hundred feet down the beach from the Kikuchi mansion, and use a dinghy to get to shore. Kurt, Michael and I would use a walkie-talkie to stay in touch with Parker and Karen, who would stay on the boat and help us up when we returned with the dinghy.

I’d expected to be given a job on the boat, but I was advised to sit in the cockpit as Michael and the three others carefully guided Four Guys on the Edge out to sea. I’d thought the slow departure from the yacht club harbor would be the easy part, but there were so many obstacles to watch for-dozens of bobbing boats tied up on either side of the narrow channel as we were leaving, and moving boats either returning to the club or making their way out.

Once we were free of heavy boat traffic and sailing leeward, everyone relaxed, except for me. The boat pitched and dove in the choppy Pacific, and incomprehensible instructions flew back and forth between Michael and his friends.

“Did anyone check the forecast?” I asked when there was a lull in the shouting.

“Of course,” said Karen kindly. “It’s a beautiful night and we’ve got good sailing winds. No storms on the horizon.”

“Actually, it feels kind of stormy to me.” The winds were so strong, I would have considered it the best idea of all to abort the mission and return to Waikiki.

“Rei, you can stay aboard with Parker and me if you’re nervous about anything.”

“I’m not nervous.” I gulped, because in the last few minutes, my seasickness had started.

“Karen’s right. You can bail if you want,” Michael added.

“You mean bail right now?” Some water had sloshed over the side of the boat nearest me.

“Don’t worry about that!” Michael chuckled. “It’s all part of the experience. But if you’re not feeling well, go below deck for a little bit.”

“There is a bathroom there, right?” I asked as I half-crawled toward the stairs.

“It’s just a head. And don’t throw up in it, OK?” Kurt said.

I started down the steep staircase just as the boat pitched and I fell forward on my hands and knees and face.

“That’s the other thing,” Kurt called after me, laughing. “Always take the ladder backwards.”

AS I DABBED my scraped face with antiseptic from a first-aid kit Michael brought me, I thought to myself, if there was one person we didn’t need along, it was Kurt. But Michael had insisted and I’d remembered how in Japan, he always liked to have back up in case things became dangerous.

The cabin was tastefully fitted in teak and brass, and there was even a neatly made bunk where I could lie. But the air was hot and stagnant, and after ten minutes below, I felt the need for air. I climbed the ladder, facing the right way this time, and emerged just as the boat swung to one side, nearly shooting me across the deck. But I kept my balance this time and crept back to the cockpit, gulping the salt air.

AS WE APPROACHED Barbers Point, the winds changed and almost seemed to swirl in circles. Kurt and Michael were furiously working to release lines from cleats, and Parker was shouting from the helm while Karen cranked the winch. All I could think about was how much longer would it be to Kainani-and whether I’d make it without being sick.

I realized after a few minutes that Michael was calling for me to join him. “Is this the house, Rei?”

I crawled over, took Kurt’s night-vision binoculars, and started to rise. Michael put his arm around me to help steady me, and slowly I took in what I’d never seen before: the resort from the water. Here was the twenty-story Kainani Cove Inn, the row of wedding chapels, and the time-share tower. And there, past a heavy border of volcanic rocks and shrubbery, was the white Kikuchi mansion, with a few lights on.

Karen dropped anchor at a spot that seemed to me was quite far from shore, although Kurt opined that the position was too close. Michael said firmly, ‘It’s perfect.” Then to me, ‘One last chance to decide what you’re doing, Rei. I won’t love you any less if you decide to stay aboard, but once we’re in the water, there’s no going back.”

“You can’t do it without me,” I said. “Let’s go.”

The crash of the dinghy dropping into the water cut through the sound of the wild winds. Michael and Kurt dropped in first; I handed down a waterproof box containing the walkie-talkie and other supplies, which Michael strapped to himself in a waterproof equipment belt. At last, I climbed down a small ladder on the side of the sailboat and joined them.

I’d never been this far out in an ocean before, and certainly, never been tossed about on such waves. As Michael and Kurt rowed, I recalled the sharks in Gerald Liang’s gate design. If we capsized, my lifejacket could save me from going under, but not from sharks.

“There’s something I want to ask you,” I shouted to Michael. “What exactly are you planning to do to Calvin, as I’m getting his confession on tape?”

“It depends on how much he cooperates!” Michael leaned in so I could hear him over the wind and waves. “I should ask what you’re going to say.”

“I could tell him that I was bodysurfing at the hotel beach and got pushed along his way by the current.”

“It’s pretty dark to be bodysurfing.”

“Oh. Maybe I was washed up along that horrible pile of rocks earlier, and was trying to find my way across them, and his house was closer than the rest of the resort?”

“Now you’re talking…What is it, Kurt?”

On the other end of the dinghy, Kurt was shouting something about rocks.

“We don’t want to hit the rocks, so we’re going to drop anchor here,” Michael translated. “We’re going to have to swim or wade in the rest of the way.”

“No way!” To me, it looked like we were at least three hundred feet from the shore. It was going to be a challenge for me to get in, given the darkness and size of the waves, and I wasn’t sure how we were going to get out, either.

Michael leaned over to kiss me, and spoke in my ear. “Look how close the lights of the house are now. You can hang on to the strap of my lifejacket, if things get rough.”

After the rowboat was secured, Kurt slipped into the water and started walking, using a series of hand signals to indicate to us where the rocks were. Michael and I followed, and I was grateful for the buoyancy the life vest gave me. The hardest thing was not swallowing water from the giant waves and their spray. Kurt reached the beach in what seemed like five minutes, while Michael and I continued to struggle.

“It looks as if Kurt’s started the reconnaissance,” Michael called out to me. “Notice how he’s creeping into shore-typical Navy Seal.”

I didn’t answer because a massive wave was building, starting to pull me into its undertow. I wouldn’t be able to fight it, but would it separate me from Michael?

I grabbed the strap on his life vest with both hands, and we were flung about like a toy, knocking against each other painfully.

“You’re pushing me down,” Michael said, when we came out of it. “Can you relax a little?”

“Yes, I’ll just pretend I’m in the Kainani pool,” I said as I loosened my hold. “Someone will be coming around with a low glycemic index mango smoothie for me any minute.”

“Make mine strawberry, with extra sugar.”

That made me laugh. “Michael, I’ve decided something.”

“Mmm?”

“If we make it in, and I recover from my injuries, I’ll definitely marry you.”

Michael didn’t answer, and suddenly, the wind was awfully loud. There was now a different feel to the water-not of power building behind, but something underneath. Michael finally spoke between hard breaths. “It’s a rip tide, and it’s going to move us. Just let me hold you.”

The water pushed us again, and when I opened my eyes, I couldn’t see Kurt on the beach anymore.

“Damn, I lost my belt. Did you see it?” Michael asked.

I shook my head.

“Well, at least we’ve got you.”

Michael’s hold seemed to be stronger, as if he were pulling me in on both sides of my body, not just my left. In confusion I looked to other side, and saw Kurt’s face.

“Need a hand?”

“Thanks,” said Michael shortly, loosening his hold of me as the new, massive arms encircled me.

“Took me a while to catch up with you, but I saw where the current was heading,” Kurt said. As he powered me to shore, I relaxed in relief, unable to do anything but breathe.

“What the hell happened here? Mikey forgot how to swim?” Kurt asked as the shore grew closer.

“Kurt, give us a hand getting Rei to shore. I’ve got to find my belt, which ripped off in the waves.”

As Michael searched the water, I lay on the beach, catching my breath. It was dark, and there seemed to be only giant globs of seaweed and a discarded potato-chips bag nearby. The prospect of abandoning the mission, because we’d lost our equipment, seemed almost tempting. But then I thought about what Calvin had done to my father and me, and knew, as Michael had said, there could be no going back.