“ The island of death-Kahoolawe.”
“ Kahoolawe, but isn't that-”
“ It's the closest point from Maui by boat.”
She saw a light in his eyes which burned intensely. He believed he had hit on the secret where Lopaka was. “If Lopaka's not on Maui, then he's there,” said Jim, leaning against the rental car, a certain finality in his voice. “Look, if that's the case, he'd have left from somewhere around Cape Hanamanioa on the windward side of the island. The channel between the other island and Maui is known as the Alalakeiki, the distance a mere ten miles.”
“ It's that close?”
“ Just down the coast from there at Hekili Point is the only place in all of Hawaii where you can stand and see four other islands. Lopaka knows that if he makes it to Kahoolawe, he can be free. He's got to know that, and if he's being helped…”
She tried to decipher all this new information, recalling what Jim had told her of the no-whites policy of the Kahoolawe preserve, that even the FBI was off-limits there. “So, if Lopaka has in fact made it to Kahoolawe island, we may've seen the last of him?”
Upset now, Jim said, “Get in the car. We've got to move.” He hurried around to the driver's side and got in. She slid into the passenger seat, and in a moment they were pulling from the curb, doing a U-turn on the main street of Makawao.
“ What about a warrant, extradition papers?”
Parry shook his head.
“ But there's got to be a way we can extradite the-”
“ No go under these circumstances. U.S. authorities can't set foot on the island under any circumstances without express and unequivocal invitation. And to further complicate the situation, he could be given immunity by virtue of his lineage.”
“ Lineage? Whose invitation?” She was so angry she could hardly see the island road ahead.
“ The head of the tribal government on Kahoolawe.”
“ Who is?”
“ Kowona… the elder Kowona, don't you get it?”
“ Lopaka's father?”
“ Yes, he'd be one of the first to seek out Kahoolawe as a refuge from encroaching Western civilization on Molokai. He'd be one of the first to take up residence on Kahoolawe, braving whatever hardships he and his people there might face.”
“ You're sure you're not clutching at straws? I mean, on the word of those cowboys back there that Lopaka's people are no longer on Molokai? Is that enough?”
“ When we get to the hotel on the other side of the island, I'll confirm it with our guy on Molokai.”
“ Our hotel's on the other side of the island? Near this bay that looks out over Kahoolawe? Then you knew all along?”
“ I feared all along, the moment it sank in that the bastard had escaped Oahu, yes. It's a hole-in-the-wall, a place where a parasite like this might find refuge. There is no law there as we know it, Jess.” Parry drove onward to their next destination, his teeth set and clenched.
“ You've known where you're going all along… known about Lopaka's run for Kahoolawe all along? Hell, you forwarded our luggage there!”
“ I didn't know Lopaka was related to the big muckety-muck on Molokai, not at first. Hell, over here Kowona's as common as Smith in the States. But after you told me about what the old man said, Kaniola's great-granduncle, I began to wonder and to consider the geography of it all.”
“ Lopaka's boyhood village was supposedly on Molokai,” she said. “And everyone's trying to rivet our attention there. So you, being of a suspicious turn of mind…”
“ Yeah, but in the meantime, over the last year or so, his people removed to Kahoolawe. Who better to reclaim the island for the PKO when the U.S. Navy relinquished their hold over it.”
'Tell me more about this unusual island and its special status,” she asked. “Isn't there some way around it, given the circumstances, the dire-”
“ The kid'll have diplomatic immunity there, simple as that…”
“ God damn it!” she burst out.
He wheeled the car now back out to the main highway off which they'd descended into the town of Makawao. Back on U.S. 37, they made a beeline for the other side of the island and the Alalakeiki Channel.
“ The island was used as a bloody bombing target for aircraft and naval vessels by our armed forces since 1942 and-” he began.
“ Christ, it must be one helluva piece of screwed-up real estate.”
“- and for a hell of a long time only wild goats and sheep lived there, but since the Hawaiians have gained in political power and influence, they've gained the island back and along with it this special status. Some of the traditionalists, the tribesmen from all the various islands in the chain, returned to Kahoolawe to re-colonize-”
“ Re-establish their culture, you mean?”
He nodded, adding, “Living purely by ancient means, or so everyone says.”
“ You're not so sure?”
“ I have my suspicions they're not about to turn up their noses at certain modem devices.”
“ Such as?”
“ Motor boats, nautical equipment, firearms.”
“ Firearms, really?”
“ There's scuttle that they've been amassing their own arsenal against the day when we-the U.S.-decide to reclaim Kahoolawe. Next time, they intend to fight to the death. Anyway, they're big on fishing. And they do some trading in canned goods and other foods and necessities with the Maui islanders.”
“ And what do they have to trade?”
“ Fish mosdy, exotic and authentic shell leis, some ancient arrowhead artifacts. Couple of archaeological sites found on the island now belong wholly to the tribesmen, too.”
“ So, they've worked a trade for the return of a native son, and we can't touch him?”
“ Who knows? Maybe we'll get lucky. Maybe he declined their invitation. Maybe he did go on to the big island south of here… maybe…”
He didn't sound convinced. The island traffic had thinned to a trickle here, the road bordered on one side by a sugarcane field through which the wind raged, setting the stalks into a frantic dance as the car sped by.
“ Where to now, Jim?”
“ I know some friends in the vicinity who might take me to Kahoolawe.”
“ What?”
“ For a price.”
She took in a deep breath of air and stared out at the pineapple fields on either side of the road now, wondering why Jim seemed so hell-bent on destroying his own career.
It appeared that Jim Parry meant to track Lopaka to the ends of the earth if necessary, to see justice done. Still, his obsession was her own.
“ What the hell're you going to do, Jim? I mean, even if you can determine that he's on that island, you… we have no juice there. You can't take him off the island, not without risking your own career, not if the government says stay out, that it's not the jurisdiction of the agency.”
“ At this point, Jess, I just want to get my hands on him.”
'To kill him?”
“ Look, if I can take him alive and get him off the island without anyone's knowing I was there, then he's my prisoner.”
“ I see. And you think that's possible?”
“ I don't know, but I'll never know if I don't get within spitting distance.”
She fell silent, scanning the incredible scenery as it flew by. Jim, having been introduced to the island long ago, raced full ahead toward their next destination.
“ I could use a bath, you know,” she complained. “Get this seawater off my skin. I got sand in places I didn't
