Fright Wave (10 page)

Frank knew that they would run into some kind of reception committee, but he didn't expect them to just start shooting wildly. Luckily, there was only one guard, and he had only fired a warning shot.

Al Kealoha reached the shore first, Connie Lo a moment later. By the time Frank hit the beach, the guard already had the two surfers covered.

Frank could tell the man was nervous. He wasn't prepared for an invasion of surfers. He spotted Frank and started waving the gun around, not sure where to point it.

Frank approached him, smiling and holding his hands up. "What's the problem?"

The guard turned toward him. "Hold it, right there!" he barked.

"Hold what?" the big Hawaiian asked. "There's no law against surfing, is there?"

"And this is a public beach, right?" Connie Lo added.

The man eyed them nervously. "What are you doing here?" he asked sharply.

"Relax," a voice from behind him answered. "We're just here for a little beach party."

The guard whirled around to face the new threat. It was Joe.

"What's going on down there?" a voice crackled over the walkie-talkie in the guard's hand. He stared down at it blankly for a second.

A second was all Frank needed. He grabbed the guard's other arm from behind and yanked it back. He squeezed the wrist and twisted it sharply. The man cried out as he lost his grip on the gun.

The two-way radio squawked again. "What's going on?" it blared. Joe's fist smashed into the guard's face before he could respond. He fell to his knees. Frank let go of his arm, and the man pitched face first into the sand, out cold.

"What's the trouble?" the radio crackled.

Joe bent down and pried it out of the guard's hand. "No trouble," he answered. "Everything's under control."

Frank picked up the gun and handed it to Al Kealoha. Looking at the three surfers, he said, "You guys stay here. Joe and I will go in alone."

"Wait a minute," Jade said. "It's my father in there. I should go."

Joe shook his head. "Too risky." He looked deep into her green eyes. "If he's in there, we'll get him out. I promise."

They reached the house without running into anybody else. The back door was wide open. The guard hadn't bothered to close it in his rush to intercept the surfers. Frank and Joe glanced at each other.

"It could be a trap," Frank said.

Joe shrugged. "There's only one way to find out." He walked through the doorway, and his brother followed.

Joe moved quietly through the kitchen and a large formal dining room. He stopped suddenly when his shoes hit the marble floor of the front hall, and Frank almost bumped into him. The sound of their footsteps echoed in the large entrance way.

"Looks like crime pays pretty well for some guys," Joe said in a low voice.

The place seemed deserted. Joe cocked his head to one side. He thought he heard a faint noise upstairs. He motioned to a wide, curved stairway, and Frank nodded. He had heard it, too.

"Vinnie!" a voice suddenly blared out right next to Joe. "Where are you? What's going on?"

Joe looked down at the forgotten walkie-talkie he had been carrying the whole time. He held it close to his mouth and pushed the talk button. "Ah - I'm still down on the beach. You should come down, too. The water's great!"

"What?" came the startled reply. Joe thought it sounded like stereo. He heard it coming from the two-way radio and from the second floor.

"Never mind," he muttered as he switched off the unit and set it down on a table.

They climbed the stairs slowly, silently. At the top was a long hallway. "This place has more bedrooms than a cheap motel," Joe whispered. "Where do we start?"

"At the beginning," Frank replied. He tried the door to the first room on his right. It was unlocked. He pushed it open and slipped into the room.

Joe was about to follow him when a man suddenly burst out of a doorway down the hall. He was clutching a short, ugly-looking submachine gun, and it was leveled at Joe.

"You're not Vinnie," he growled.

Joe threw his hands up in the air. "I could change my name if it would make you happy," he ventured as he moved away from the door.

"Shut up!" the man snapped. "Who are you? And where's Vinnie?"

Joe started to back slowly toward the stairs. "Come on, I'll show you where he is."

The man moved toward him warily, his eyes riveted on Joe, watching his every move. He didn't notice the partially open door as he passed it. "If you've done anything to Vinnie, I'll - "

He never finished the sentence because Frank had smashed a flowerpot over his head.

Joe whirled around to see his brother standing over the man's limp body, the shattered remains of the pot still clutched in Frank's hands.

He walked down the hall to the door the man had left open. Joe poked his head inside and found Jade's father gagged and tied up in a chair.

"Where's Jade?" Kevin Roberts blurted out as soon as Joe took off the gag. "Is she all right?"

"She's fine," Joe assured him. "She's down on the beach waiting for you."

"Where is everybody?" Frank asked. "We only ran into two of Catlin's goons. There must be more than that."

"Catlin and Gordon left with three or four men about two hours ago," Roberts said. "I think they were going to set up some kind of ambush."

Frank looked at his watch. "For us, I think."

"Gee, I'm sorry we had to spoil all their fun by not showing up," Joe said.

He looked at Jade's father. "What's going on here, anyway? If Thomas Catlin wanted you dead, how come you're still alive? And why are they after Jade? She didn't do anything."

"I didn't understand it myself until this morning," Kevin Roberts said. "That's when Catlin told me about his daughter. She was just a little older than Jade."

"Was?" Frank said.

"She died in a car accident," Roberts explained, "just before Catlin was released from prison. She was only sixteen."

"So what's that got to do with you and Jade?" Joe asked. "It wasn't your fault."

"Try telling that to Thomas Catlin," Roberts replied grimly. "He thinks that if he hadn't been in jail while she was growing up, his daughter would still be alive."

"And since you put him behind bars," Frank said, "he wants your daughter's life for his."

Kevin Roberts nodded silently.

"We better get out of here," Frank said. "By now they should have figured out we're not playing the game by their rules. They could be back any minute."

They hurried down the stairs to the front hall. Through a window they saw a long, gray limousine barreling down the driveway, followed by the black van.

"Looks like we've got company," Joe observed.

They hustled Kevin Roberts through the dining room and kitchen and out the back door. "You guys go on ahead," Joe said. "There's something I've got to do first."

Frank stopped and turned around. "I'm not going anyplace without you," he said firmly.

"There's no time to argue about it," Joe replied.

"You're right," Frank agreed. He turned to Jade's father and pointed down to the beach. "Jade's waiting down there. Her friends will get you out of here."

"What about you?" Kevin Roberts asked.

"Don't worry," Frank answered. "We know what we're doing." After Roberts left, he turned to his brother. "What are we doing?"

"We've got to buy them some time to escape," Joe said. "We need to set up a diversion."

"Got any ideas?" Frank asked.

Joe grinned. "Ever take a ride in a limo?"

The two brothers sneaked around the side of the house. The limousine and the van had just pulled up in front. The limo driver got out and opened the back door.

A tall, slim man with silver-gray hair emerged. He was dressed casually in white shorts and a shirt. Pete Gordon jumped out of the van just then, and the man barked something at him. Joe couldn't make out the words, but it was clear the man in the white shorts was unhappy about something.

"That must be Catlin," Frank whispered.

"I wish I could see the look on his face when he finds out nobody's home," Joe said.

"I'd rather be a couple miles away," Frank replied.

They waited until Catlin and his men filed into the mansion. Then they dashed over to the empty limousine. The door was unlocked. Frank opened it and was greeted by a loud electronic beeeeep. He froze for a second, afraid that he had just set off a car alarm. Then he realized it was only the buzzer to alert the driver that the keys were still in the ignition. He slid behind the wheel and started the engine.

As Joe opened the door on the other side, he heard muffled shouting coming from inside the house. Then he clearly heard Pete Gordon's voice. "The back door's open!" he called out. "I think they headed for the water!"

Joe ran around the limousine and bounded up the stairs to the front door. "Hey!" he shouted. "Somebody's stealing the boss's limo!" Then he dashed back to the limo and jumped in.

Frank hit the gas, and the luxury car tore down the driveway. In the rear-view mirror, he could see Gordon come running out the front door - with his gun already drawn. Frank turned the steering wheel left, then right, then left again, swerving the limo from one side of the pavement to the other. He heard a shot ring out, and then another. There was a loud thunk as one of the bullets thudded into the trunk of the limo.

Frank kept the gas pedal all the way down, and they sped out of range.

Up ahead loomed the iron gate. It was closed.

"Oops," Joe said. "I think we forgot one minor detail."

"What's this 'we' business?" Frank replied. "This was your plan, remember?" He spotted a small remote control unit - like the garage door opener he had turned into a homing device - stuck to the dashboard by a strip of Velcro. He grabbed it, pointed it at the gate, and pushed the button.

The gate began to swing open slowly. But it ground to a halt at about the halfway point. Frank punched the button again. Nothing. The opening was too narrow for the wide limousine.

They were trapped.

"WHAT'S WRONG?" Joe asked. He could tell there wasn't enough room for the limo to get through the gate. "Why did it stop? Why won't it open?"

"They must have cut the power back at the house!"

"Then I guess it's time for plan B," Joe said.

"Plan B? What's plan B?"

Joe jammed his left foot down on his brother's right foot, pushing the gas pedal to the floor. "Go for it!" he yelled.

The car rocketed forward and smashed into the gate. The iron bars held, but the bolts sunk into the brick wall didn't. The force of the collision snapped rusty old bolts and ripped others out of the brick mortar. The gate crashed to the ground, and the limousine rolled over it and out onto the road.

"Great driving," Joe said, grinning wildly. "Reminds me of the first time we borrowed Dad's car. Remember?"

Frank shot him a look. "Yeah." He glanced in the rear-view mirror. "Uh - oh, we've got company."

Joe twisted around to peer out the back window. The black van was closing in from behind. "Think we can lose him somehow?" he asked.

"Not on this road," Frank answered. "Too many twists and turns, and this limo is too long and wide. It doesn't have any maneuverability."

"Plenty of horsepower, though," Joe remarked. "Nice comfy seats, too." He glanced over at his brother. "I bet you could crank her wide open on the highway - and still have a real smooth ride."

"Let's find out," Frank said. He turned onto the Pali Highway, heading back toward Honolulu, the black van following. Frank punched the gas pedal. The limo shot ahead, widening the gap between them and the van.

Joe was right - it had a very powerful engine. Frank realized that Catlin probably had had it modified. He checked out the rear window again. The van couldn't keep up. It was dwindling in the distance.

Frank knew that the road would continue to climb upward until after they passed the Nuuanu Pali. He breathed a little easier as the van grew steadily smaller in the mirror.

Suddenly the engine began to cough. The limo lurched and hesitated, then lurched again. Their speed started to drop. What was wrong?

Frank looked at the control panel. He smacked the steering wheel with his fist and swore silently to himself. "You're not going to believe this," he said. "We're out of gas."

Joe pointed out the window. "There's a turnoff up ahead. If we're lucky, Gordon won't realize we got off the highway until we're long gone."

"Long gone where?" Frank replied. "Off a thousand-foot cliff? That's the turnoff for Nuuanu Pali!"

"Okay, so it's not the greatest choice," Joe admitted. "But it's the only one we've got."

"And if Gordon finds us?" Frank persisted.

Joe shrugged. "I don't know - grow wings and fly away?"

"Terrific," Frank muttered, but he knew his brother was right. They didn't have any choice.

They barely made it to the scenic overlook before the engine sputtered and died. They weren't alone. There was a mini van parked near the concrete observation platform. Two guys were busy taking something out of the back of the van and assembling it on the platform.

"What is that?" Joe asked.

Frank studied the metal tubes and wires. He couldn't make out what it was until one of the guys unfolded a wide and roughly triangular sheet of brightly colored material. The colors reminded him of the para-sail that had snatched Joe and Jade off Maui. But the shape told him it was something else.

"You wanted wings," he said. "There they are."

Frank and Joe hurried over to the platform. One of the guys working on the contraption looked as if he was at least thirty-five years old, but in good shape. The other one was just a kid, not much older than twelve or thirteen.

Frank realized they must be father and son. "Nice hang glider you've got there," he said. "Interesting design, too. Looks like a two-man model."

The older man looked up from his work. "That's right," he said. "That's what happens when you refuse to grow old gracefully around your kids. Pretty soon, they want to play with all your toys."