Distant Echoes
Authors: Colleen Coble
Praise for
Distant Echoes
BY COLLEEN COBLE
“Colleen Coble has concocted a tangy
whodunit
and spiced it up with just the right amount of romance, intrigue, inspiration, and a generous splash of spine-tingling suspense. Sit back, put your feet up, and try to sip it slowly—if you can! Aloha!”
—Kathy Herman, author of the Baxter Series and
Poor Mrs. Rigsb
y
“This story of restoration steeped in Hawaiian tradition and culture will make you want to pack you bags and head for the islands. Aloha, baby!”
—Stephanie Grace Whitson, author of
A Garden In Paris
“In
Distant Echoes,
Colleen Coble paints a picture of Hawaii that is as real as the characters she breathes to life. Rich detail, realistic romance, and you’ll-never-guess suspense make this a story you won’t want to put down until the last page. This story will echo in my mind for a long time.”
—Denise Hunter, author of
Saving Grace
“Colleen Coble soars and delivers with
Distant Echoes.
If romance, suspense, and action, blended with a strong Christian message are what you’re looking for,
Distant Echoes
is it. From the first word I was hooked.”
—William Kritlow, author of
Driving Lessons
and the Lake Champlain Mystery Series
“Colleen Coble is the master of romantic suspense. Whether we’re tracking villians, swimming with dolphins, or enjoying a luau,
Distant Echoes
delivers the best in suspense, action, romance, and family drama. I love a book that takes me someplace I’ve never been and Colleen’s Aloha Reef Series does that wonderfully! I can’t wait to come back and visit again.”
—Kathryn Mackel, author of
The Surrogate
and
The Departed
“No one does romantic suspense like Colleen Coble: Tightly-plotted, deeply-drawn characters and, as always, a fascinating setting! Colleen only gets better and I highly recommend
Distant Echoes
for an exciting adventure vacation without ever leaving home!”
—Kristin Billerbeck, author of
What a Girl Wants
and
She’s Out of Control
“
Distant Echoes,
the first of The Aloha Reef Series, is another of the quality novels we have all grown to expect from Colleen Coble. The fast-paced suspense, well-crafted romance, vivid descriptions, deep spiritual insights and fascinating glimpses into Hawaiian culture will keep you reading until the very last page. And of course, there are the heart-tugging animal scenes, with Nani the dolphin a very worthy successor to Samson, everyone’s favorite Search and Rescue canine. It is easy to see why Colleen is a RITA finalist.”
—Hannah Alexander, author of
Last Resort
and
Note of Peril
“In
Distant Echoes,
Colleen Coble sets her suspense in glorious Hawaii. Her heroine, Kaia, seeks to communicate with her special friend, a dolphin, but the past swirls in with the tropical tide. Not just Kaia’s past, but many dangerous currents sweep in threatening lives and futures.”
—Lyn Cote, author of The Women of Ivy Manor series
“
Distant Echoes
is a well-crafted story filled with page-turning intrigue and suspense. I loved the details of Hawaiian culture sprinkled throughout. A fun, yet moving read. Highly recommended!”
—Marlo Schalesky, author of
Only the Wind Remembers
OTHER BOOKS BY COLLEEN COBLE:
The Rock Harbor Series
Without a Trace
Beyond a Doubt
Into the Deep
© 2005 by Colleen Coble
All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, scanning, or other—except for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
Published in Nashville, Tennessee, by Thomas Nelson. Thomas Nelson is a trademark of Thomas Nelson, Inc.
Thomas Nelson, Inc., titles may be purchased in bulk for educational, business, fund-raising, or sales promotional use. For information, please e-mail [email protected].
Publisher’s Note: This novel is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. All characters are fictional, and any similarity to people living or dead is purely coincidental.
Scripture references are from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION ®. © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Coble, Colleen.
Distant echoes / Colleen Coble.
p. cm.- (The Aloha Reef series ; bk. 1)
ISBN 0-7852-6042-0 (trade paper)
I. Title.
PS3553.O2285D577 2005
813'.6—dc22
2004022254
Printed in the United States of America
05 06 07 08 09 RRD 10 9 8 7 6 5 4
For my perfect, wonderful children
who bring me joy every day
David Coble Jr.
Kara Coble
Contents
Hawaiian Language
Pronunciation Guide
A pronunciation guide for the Hawaiian language
is included as a resource in the back of the book.
Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The LORD is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
and his understanding no one can fathom.
—
Isaiah 40:28
T
he turquoise water surrounded Kaia Oana in a warm, wet blanket of delight. She angled her body like a torpedo and zipped through the lagoon beside Nani. The Pacific bottle-nosed dolphin spiraled like a top then burst through the waves above Kaia’s head in a jump of pure joy.
Kaia felt like doing the same. She arched her back and moved her hands through the water in the flowing hula movements she loved. The movement felt like a prayer, and in many ways, it was. She smiled and kicked her fins, shooting to the top of the water with Nani.
Her head broke the surface three feet from her boat,
Porpoise II
, as it rocked gently in the small swells off the island. She blinked salt water out of her eyes then waved at her brothers before turning her gaze to the Na Pali coastline. It soared some four thousand feet and touched clouds that covered the peaks with mist. If she squinted her eyes just right, one rock looked like a brontosaurus straight out of
Jurassic Park
.
The music from the CD player she’d brought echoed on the wind. Amy Hanaiali`i Gilliom sang “Palehua,” a song about the way Hawaii’s mountains call to the soul. Today Kaia felt that pull strongly. She swam to the boat and slipped off her fins then climbed into the
Porpoise II
. The Hawaiian trade winds brought more than mere salt-laden breezes today, a sure sign that the perfect day with her two brothers was about to end.
Bane sat in the bow with his fishing pole over the side. He saw Kaia and nodded toward the clouds. “
Auê
! You didn’t check the weather again, did you?” Her brother’s tone was gentle and held only a hint of reproach. Mano looked up at the sky and then into the fish bucket, which held only a couple of small snapper.
Kaia grabbed a towel and grinned at her brothers. “Why check? It hardly ever changes.” She would relish this time with them. They were so often separated these days.
Nani rose on her tail and moved backward through the water. The dolphin gave a chirp then sank beneath the waves and chased brightly colored fish beneath Kaia’s boat. Two other dolphins, eager to play with Nani, jumped in front of the boat in perfect unison then swam away.
They gave their pod’s characteristic “call,” a signature whistle that had been imprinted by their mother in the hours after birth. Nani had been only a few months old when Kaia found her as an orphaned calf, but when Kaia released her into the wild, she’d quickly joined this pod of six bottle-nosed dolphins. Nani never forgot Kaia was her “mother” though, and the two had formed a bond that had fueled Kaia’s obsession with dolphin research.
Kaia laughed at their contagious joy then noticed a man along the shore staring out to sea through binoculars. A tourist probably. She watched him a bit longer. There was a curious intent in the way he stood, and a touch of unease stirred in her stomach. Her smile faded. She shook her head. Her imagination had a tendency to run wild.
She turned to watch the dolphins again, never tiring of their grace. Nani chattered and swam to the boat. She pushed her nose against Kaia, and Kaia ran her hand over the dolphin’s sleek head. It felt like a warm inner tube. Nani butted her again, and Kaia laid her head against the dolphin. Nani seemed to sense her moods with an almost uncanny ability.
Several warm drops of rain pattered onto the sea. Kaia lifted her face into the mist and watched the clouds swoop lower. Her brothers would want to get in, but she loved to be part of the elements, to smell the moisture and to experience the boat rolling along the waves.
“Storm’s coming pretty quick now,” Mano said, putting away his gear.
Kaia glanced at the sky. “We’d better get to shore.” She yanked on the boat’s anchor. As she bent over the boat and tugged at the rope, a vibration seemed to come out of nowhere. Kaia looked up and saw something pass overhead with a shriek that caused her to clap her hands to her ears.
“Look out!” Mano shouted. He grabbed Kaia’s arm and forced her to sit down.
The high-pitched sound surrounded Kaia and made her want to scream herself. The vibration intensified then rocked their vessel. She dropped her hands from her ears and grabbed the side of the boat. The vibration grew from a steady hum into thunder, ending in an explosion that seemed to fill the world. Bane reached over and steadied her or she would have toppled off her seat and into the water.
Still holding her brother’s hand, Kaia stared in the direction of the blast. Thick, black smoke roiled up from the water to her east, nearer to shore. The echoes of shouts and screams rose above the sound of the waves and wind. She tore her gaze from the sight and turned to find Nani. Only the dolphin’s nostrum protruded from the water like a beak as she quivered at the commotion. She rolled to the side, exposing one eye that blinked with concern.