lay down on the picnic table, covering her eyes with her good arm. The vigorous exercise had finally broken through the turmoil of her mind.
A different memory came to her, a line from the Bible that she had read over and over in the dingy hotel rooms of her life with her mother, as if repetition would help her understand: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God… And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness does not comprehend it.
Did that mean she was in darkness, because she didn’t understand? But I think God is helping me anyway. I have to remember exercising works better than cutting myself… She sat up, sighing. Maybe it was time to make a new card that would help her remember.
A charcoal Toyota truck with heavily tinted windows rolled toward them, cruising slowly along the narrow blacktopped road. Lei sat up, reaching for the leash as Keiki stood, her ears pricked. The truck drew abreast of them, stopped. She tensed as the mirrored window rolled down.
This couldn’t be good.
She saw a muted gleam of sunlight off a matte black metal surface, and launched herself off the table onto the ground.
“Keiki! Down!”
Lei saw the muzzle flash, heard the blast, and her dog yelped, twisting in the air as she fell.
“No!” Lei screamed. “Keiki, no!” Her ears rang from the shot, a jolt of terror and shock blasting through her system.
She reached up and caught the dangling strap of the holster, yanked it down into the grass beside her. The vehicle’s door opened, a leg stepped out. She pulled her gun, and hunkered down in a slight depression beneath the picnic table. The wide crossbar blocked her view.
“Lei, come out.” He knew her name.
She sighted around the crossbar and fired, hitting the jeans-clad leg. The man shrieked, falling back into the truck. She crawled forward, braced her elbows on the ground for another shot. The shooter’s curses were cut off as he slammed the door. The engine revved, and the Toyota began to pull away.
She surged up from the grass, aiming for the front and side tires. They blew out with a satisfying boom. The truck ground into a turn. She heard the thunder of more shots fired back at her, but stood square, aiming for the other back tire. She blew it.
The Toyota kept going. She aimed for where the driver’s head would be. The reflective back windshield broke inward, a grapefruit-sized hole, and the vehicle jerked to a halt.
She dropped flat again, belly-crawling to Keiki. The dog raised her head and whimpered. A bloody hole showed where the bullet had entered her upper chest and blown out the shattered shoulder in a much bigger crater, leaving a long oozing score down her side. Blood welled from the exit wound.
“It’s okay, girl. I think you’re gonna make it if we can get out of here,” Lei whispered, laying her windbreaker over the wound and leaning on it. Keiki writhed but lay still as Lei brought her gun up again, sighting on the stalled vehicle.
“Drop your weapon and come out with your hands up,” she bellowed, “and I promise I won’t kill you.”
“Fuck you, bitch!” came from the truck, followed by more shots fired in her direction.
She crawled backward behind the picnic table, dragging Keiki by the hind legs. The dog let her, only whining a little as Lei situated them in the slight decline in the ground beneath the table. In one quick heave she stood up and flipped the table on its side facing the car. Shots fired, and this time splinters gouged Lei’s shoulder as a bullet buried itself in the wood inches away.
She bit her lip to keep from crying out. She turned her head to look and felt her stomach lurch at the same time as pain hit like a red-hot poker. A spray of splinters stuck up like porcupine quills from her left shoulder.
She sucked a few breaths, getting the pain under control, and peeked around the table. She looked at the spot on the wood where the bullet had gone in. It hadn’t made it all the way through the thick timber. The benches’ angle threw the tabletop forward, but she was still hidden behind it.
She hunkered back down, putting pressure on Keiki’s wound again. They’d be safe for the moment. She dug the cell phone out of the blood-soaked windbreaker. Thumbed it open and dialed 911. Reception was always iffy in the park, but the bars lit up. She identified herself, called for backup and an ambulance.
“Sorry, Officer Texeira, help’s about ten minutes away,” the operator said. “We’ll notify the park service and maybe they can get there sooner. Take cover and we’ll be there as soon as we can.”
“Keiki, we’re okay,” she whispered in the dog’s ear, closing the phone on the operator’s protests to keep the line open. “Hang in there, baby.”
The Toyota started up again. She stood up in a squat behind the table, trying to see what he was doing, her weapon out. There was only one operational tire left, but he could still get far enough away on the rims to escape on foot. The truck rolled forward, the blown tires rumbling and flapping against the road.
He wasn’t going to shoot her dog and get away with it-it was that simple. She’d only used up five of the Glock’s fifteen rounds.
She jumped up and dodged out from behind the table, running bent over, weaving. A wild shot blew up gravel that stung her legs as the Toyota rumbled away. She shot out the remaining tire but it kept going, picking up speed. She followed in an all-out run now and blasted the rest of the clip into the back of the cab.
This time when the truck stopped, the horn sounded, one long mournful blast.
She crouched, came along the driver’s side. Grabbed the handle, popped the door.
“Come out with your hands up and I won’t shoot!”
The driver was slumped against the door and, as it opened, he tipped out, falling out of the truck facedown. She recognized the back of his head, sleek as an otter’s pelt. A bullet wound bled from the center of his spine.
She hauled him all the way out into the road by his armpits. He was alive, and blinked up at her, hazel eyes confused.
Ray Solomon.
Nothing surprised her anymore.
“Lei. I can’t feel anything. I can’t move my legs.”
“Goddamn it Ray, I thought you were a friend!” She sat down next to him. He looked bad, his complexion gray and greasy, his body limp.
“Am I dying? I heard you feel cold when you’re dying. I don’t feel cold. I can’t feel anything.”
“You might be dying, I don’t know. What the hell is going on?”
“We’re Changs,” he said. “Your old man killed our old man, and me and Anela thought we’d get him back, prove ourselves to Healani and the captains. I was never going to qualify for the police department..” His voice trailed off as the sound of sirens got louder.
“Wake up. Who else was in on this? Who is ‘Anela’? Come on, confession of a dying man and all that.” She slapped his cheek.
He’d passed out. She kicked away his Glock, fallen beside him, and got up and hurried back to Keiki. She was leaning on the wound when the park service, followed by response vehicles, rolled up.
She waved and yelled, “Priority first aid over here!”
The paramedics ran over with their bags. When they saw the fallen was a dog, they turned to leave. Lei pulled the empty Glock.
“Help my dog. Now. ”
Detective Ross, getting out of his unmarked Bronco and responding to one of her emergencies yet again, waved one of the paramedics away and directed the other.
“Texeira’s in shock. She didn’t mean it. Help the dog, please. Lei, put the gun away, for crying out loud.”
The paramedic did first aid as best he could, and when the ambulances loaded up, they were carrying two stretchers.
Stevens pulled up with Pono in the next wave of responders. He ran over to where Lei sat on the righted picnic table talking to Ross and Nagata, who’d put the two Glocks into evidence bags for Ballistics.
“Lei!” he scooped her into a hug, blood and all. She winced at the pain from the splinters in her shoulder and pushed him away.
“I’m okay.” She saw the blood drain out of his face as he stepped back, obviously remembering she’d broken up with him.
