BooksBarbecue
Back The Preserve
Chapters (56)
  1. Front Cover
  2. Half-Title Page
  3. Title Page
  4. Copyright Page
  5. AUTHOR’S NOTE
  6. 1.
  7. 2.
  8. 3.
  9. 4.
  10. 5.
  11. 6.
  12. 7.
  13. 8.
  14. 9.
  15. 10.
  16. 11.
  17. 12.
  18. 13.
  19. 14.
  20. 15.
  21. 16.
  22. 17.
  23. 18.
  24. 19.
  25. 20.
  26. 21.
  27. 22.
  28. 23.
  29. 24.
  30. 25.
  31. 26.
  32. 27.
  33. 28.
  34. 29.
  35. 30.
  36. 31.
  37. 32.
  38. 33.
  39. 34.
  40. 35.
  41. 36.
  42. 37.
  43. 38.
  44. 39.
  45. 40.
  46. 41.
  47. 42.
  48. 43.
  49. 44.
  50. 45.
  51. 46.
  52. 47.
  53. 48.
  54. EPILOGUE
  55. AFTERWORD
  56. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

“I asked Frankie how he’s going to handle it. He wasn’t going to tell me, but he couldn’t resist, not with that smile. He told me he would simply be lying in wait for Selfer down there.”

“All right. Well, let’s see who gets there first.”

“What now?”

“We wait a bit. Hopefully this rain will stick around. You all ready?”

Jock had his combat knife on his web belt. He patted the sheath. Then he lifted his pack, to show her. It was much smaller now. Three canteens hung off it. He pulled a small map from the front pocket. He unfolded it, turned it to her. It was a map to the underground tunnel system. Kanani’s eyes scanned it, and she recorded locations in her head, making sure to focus on the break room, and on Wendell’s cell, and especially on certain storage chambers farther out, these on the way to the exits beyond the perimeter and possibly to lava tubes at the base of the volcano. She couldn’t help that last part. She could not rule it out no matter what her faddah would have done or told her. She didn’t let her eyes stop long though in case Jock saw it.

She heard jangling. Jock was holding up a ring of keys.

“We gonna do this, let’s do it,” he said. “Keep this moving.”

“Not yet. This might look like the front line to you, but this isn’t that kine war. This here is a knock-down bust-up in a back alley.”

“Hey. War is war.”

Kanani had to nod at that. “We still have to wait. We can’t be seen out there, just hanging around. Why don’t you sit? It won’t take long to get this cockfight up and running. Our two cocks, they have to want it and bad. And when they do? Ho ka, bruddah, dey all buckaloose.”

42.

Kanani and Jock moved along through the bushes, fern to palm to shrub, squatting and crossing the paths only at their darkest stretches. The rain had let up but still soaked them, trickling off their hats like a gutter leaking. Two guards approached. Kanani and Jock hunkered down behind a wall of impatiens. The guards passed and were staggering drunk.

They pushed on. They saw a figure at the next tree line. They crouched behind a palm trunk. The silhouette moved from bungalow to bungalow for cover. Both recognized that stride with the slightest stoop, his left arm tending to dangle, left hand twisting slightly.

“That rat bastard,” Jock grunted.