Blood Vengeance

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Mano Kinimaka sat down heavily in the plastic seat, aware but not caring that its legs were splayed dangerously close to collapse. Before him, Hayden struggled to turn her head on the pillow, her pasty white face scrunched up in pain. The hospital had done a good job of patching her up, but the bullet had taken a heavy toll on her strength.

Kinimaka wiped his eyes.

Slowly, Hayden’s lips moved. Kinimaka caught a whisper. “What is it, Mano?”

The big Hawaiian stared at the far wall. “My mom,” he said in a voice that sounded like he had a mouthful of knives. “Kovalenko got to her.”

Even in her critical state, Hayden struggled to sit up. Her gasp of pain alerted Kinimaka and dragged him back from the brink of shock. “Stop.” He moved over to sit on the bed and leaned over, feeling the entire apparatus shift and hugged her hard. “Stop, Hayden.”

“Is she…?” The feathery whisper was like a dream voice in his ear.

“Okay?” He spoke into the bed cover, his voice muffled. “No. They murdered her. That bastard murdered my mom.”

Hayden kissed him softly. Kinimaka felt tears flood his eyes and shook his head. “It ain’t worth it. All this shit we put ourselves through? It just ain’t worth it anymore.”

“I know. And with Jonathan gone, what will we do?”

Kinimaka turned his head so he could look into his girlfriend’s eyes. The sparks that had twinkled there, glittering by-products of an energetic vivacious heart, were now dulled almost to obscurity. The pallor of her skin spoke of her nearness to death. But she wouldn’t give in. Still, she fought.

Kinimaka steeled himself, using her strength to rally his own resilience and courage. “You are my mentor,” he said. “And my idol. You always will be, Hayden Jaye.”

Her attempt at a smile broke his heart again. When the phone rang he slammed it to his ear without once breaking their eye contact.

“Yes?”

“Mano. This is Agent Collins, your CIA liaison for LA. It’s about your sister, Kono. You just rang to check on her?”

Kinimaka could barely bring himself to speak. “Yes.”

“She’s fine and under close guard. Without going into too much detail, Mano, we got there just in time.”

“Thank… you,” he managed, “Agent Collins.”

“Don’t thank me,” she said. “It was your call that prompted the op. Thank yourself.” The agent hung up; tough, strict and to the point.

Hayden brushed his hair with a shaking hand. “She’s okay?”

“Yeah. She’s fine.”

“Thank God.”

Kinimaka looked up, then around the room; for the first time noticing the lack of security, the open undraped windows, the well-lit office blocks that surrounded the hospital, the tree-lined entry road.

“God ain’t here for us today,” he said, standing up. “We’re going to have to look after ourselves.”