HEN OVERWHELMED BY EMOTION, MY MOTHER CLOSED THE door. I do the same.

Though rage and fear battled inside me, outwardly I remained icy calm.

“Follow me.” Lô flicked a button. A pulsing wail split the afternoon calm.

Pedestrians craned their heads. Or froze. Or continued with their day. Cars nosed toward the curbs.

Ryan sprinted, yanked his door open, threw himself behind the wheel. I was right with him.

Palm-smacking the gearshift, he slammed his foot on the gas. The car jerked forward.

“Try again.” Ryan tossed me his cell as we zigzagged through the wormhole created by Lô’s siren.

I braced on the dash and punched digits one-handed.

Still no one picked up.

“They were told to stay at the house.” Ryan kept two hands on the wheel, two eyes on the road.

“Maybe they’re at the pool,” I said.

It was lame. We both knew they’d have taken their phones with them.

Traffic was heavy, but thanks to the lights and siren we made it to Kailua in twenty-three minutes.

Over the bridge, a wend through Lanikai, then a fishtail turn up the drive.

Ryan and I flew from the car and raced into the house.

“Katy?”

“Lily?”

Our calls were answered by silence.

I pumped up the stairs. Ryan rushed outside. Seconds later we met in the kitchen. Lô was already there. Our faces told the story.

“Where the hell are they?” Fear added a tremor to my voice.

Ryan laid a hand on my shoulder. “I’m sure they’re fine.”

Lô was punching buttons on his cell when a sliding door whurped across its track.

Six eyes flew toward the dining room.

“Finally.” Katy managed to sound both petulant and anxious at the same time.

“Where’s Lily?” I barked.

“That’s what I’d like to know. She went off with some skanky-looking loser. I got worried, went out looking for her. First the mall, now tonight. One more and technically she’s on a spree.”

“Why didn’t you call me?”

“I have been calling you. Over and over.” Sudden realization. “Oh, crap. I’m an idiot. Your BlackBerry’s in the ocean.”

“How long since they left?” Lô asked.

“Maybe thirty minutes.”

“What did the guy look like?”

“Who are you?”

“He’s a detective,” I snapped. “Answer his questions.”

“Is Lily in danger?” Panic filled Katy’s eyes. “I told her not to go.”

“What did he look like?” Lô repeated.

“Dreads, chains, the whole banger thing.”

Lô slanted a look at Ryan.

“Do you know where they went?” I worked to hide the dread building inside me.

“Up some trail. Skank-boy told her the view was primo.”

“Kaiwa Ridge.” Lô was already moving.

“You two stay here.” Ryan bolted after Lô.

I spun to face Katy. “Give me your sneakers.”

“What?”

“Just do it.”

She unlaced and handed them to me. I kicked off my sandals and yanked them on.

“Jacket.”

She tossed it.

“Lock every door, arm the security system, then go to your room and stay there. If an alarm sounds, don’t wait. Call nine-one-one.”

“But—”

“Do it! We’re all in danger. Be alert.”

Pulling the jacket over my head, I bounded out the door.

The sun was low, throwing long ink houses and hedges across the lawn and street. Soon it would be full dark.

I looked left, right.

A block south Ryan was turning from Mokulua onto Kaelepulu, running with strong, steady strides. I knew Lô was somewhere ahead.

I sprinted through fingers of sunlight and shadow. I had no idea where Lô was going. If I lost sight of Ryan I was done.

I rounded the corner. Several blocks up on the right was the entrance to the Mid-Pacific Country Club. Just beyond it, Ryan cut left.

I kicked hard, reached the spot, saw a driveway joining the road. Veered onto it.

Just ahead, Ryan was disappearing into a black hole in vegetation beside a chain-link fence.

I raced toward the opening.

A narrow path snaked uphill at an impossible angle.

Lily may need you!

Grabbing the fence with one hand and a tree branch with the other, I planted a foot and hauled myself onto the trailhead.

Loose soil and pebbles cascaded downward.

My sneaker lost traction.

I fell.

Pain exploded in my already bruised kneecap.

I rose. Tested.

Go!

Advancing from tree to tree, I dragged myself upward.

A hundred yards? Two hundred? At the time it seemed like a climb up Everest.

Finally the trail leveled off. The trees gave way to low-lying scrub, grass, and lava rock.

Ryan and Lô were visible far up the ridgeline, dark figures moving fast through the murky dusk.

Dear God!

The trail crawled the edge of a precipice. No guardrail. No tree trunks. Nothing to the left but yawning space.

I stood panting, heart thudding in my chest.

Far below I could see Kailua Bay to the north and Waimanalo Bay to the south. Lilliputian houses. Lanikai Beach. The two little Mokulua Islands, tiny black bumps in a pumpkin-slashed sea.

Wind danced my jacket and whipped my hair into a banshee tangle. Loose gravel slithered below the way too smooth rubber on the soles of my sneakers.

The height. The treacherous footing. Fear for Lily.

Adrenaline had me wired to hell and back.

I pushed on.

Ten minutes scrabbling upward, then I rounded a curve.

A black cutout rose from the ridgeline above, roughly twenty-five yards from me. Square. Concrete. A leftover from World War II.

I could see a figure on the near side of the pillbox. Ryan, crouched, ready to spring.

At that distance, I couldn’t tell what held his attention. Lô was nowhere to be seen.

I took a moment to assess.

The pillbox faced the sea. My approach would be invisible to anyone in it. The wind would mask any sounds I might make.

Gingerly placing each foot, I crept forward.

I was ten feet out when Ryan whipped around, ready to attack.

His eyes widened, then tensed in anger. His upraised arms relaxed a hair. A downward move of one hand gestured me behind his back.

I scurried to him and dropped to a squat.

And noticed the boy.

He lay hidden in shadow cast by the pillbox, dreadlocks haloing his head like snakes around Medusa. His eyes were closed. His chest looked still.

I placed shaky fingers on the boy’s throat. Felt no pulse.

I was trying again when his lids fluttered. Half-opened.

I found and squeezed his hand. Bent close. Heard breath rattling in his chest.

“Sarah?” His words barely carried above the wind. “It’s so cold.”

I whipped my jacket off and spread it across him.

He frowned, puzzled, a faraway look in his eyes.

“It’s so cold. I’m freezing.” His limbs shivered uncontrollably.

“You’re going to be fine,” I whispered close to his ear. “We’ll get you to a hospital. You’re young. You’ll make it.”

“I can’t see, Sarah.”

“Hold on.” I tightened my grip, felt slight pressure in return.

“Everything’s black.” Mumbled. “Sarah, I’m dying.”

I trembled from cold or fear. Goose bumps puckered my flesh.

The boy coughed wetly. His mouth looked dark. Too dark.

I pressed my chest to his, willing my warmth and strength into his body.

Please, God!

“I’m scared.” His lips were right at my ear. “Shit. I don’t want to d—”

His words were cut off.

By death?

No! No!

Hot tears streamed my cheeks.

Beside me, I felt Ryan coil.

I raised my head.

Followed Ryan’s sight line.

Every muscle in my body went rigid.

A man was dragging Lily through one of the pillbox’s doorless openings. One beefy hand wrapped her throat. The other held a gun tight to her temple.

Pukui? It had to be. Out to collect his twenty grand.

Ryan tensed to spring.

Pukui forced Lily toward the seaward side of the pillbox. I could see that the path at that point was less than a foot wide.

Lily’s eyes looked like those of a terrified dog, the whites huge, and distorted with fear.

I craned over Ryan’s shoulder, terrified to watch, terrified not to.

In the gloom, Lô materialized atop the pillbox, hunched, Glock held two-handed and pointed at Pukui. He inched forward, feeling with his feet, not daring to glance down. One step. Two.

Lô was almost to the front edge of the pillbox when Pukui shoved his gun under Lily’s jaw and forced her chin up. She yelped in pain.

Lô froze.

Ryan braced with one hand against the concrete.

Pukui’s head swiveled from side to side.

“We got company?” Pukui shouted. “Do yourself a favor, bro. Get the hell out of here.”

Silence.

“Don’t fuck with me, man.” There was true venom in Pukui’s voice.

The next sixty seconds seemed to last an hour.

Lô tensed. Fired.

The shot and a scream exploded as one sound.

Pukui’s upper body twisted left. His gun flew from his hand and cartwheeled into shadow.

Lily broke free.

Pukui yanked her back by the hood of her jacket.

Lily went down hard on her bum, struggled for traction with her hands and feet.

Ryan sprang. Drove the heel of his hand into Pukui’s Adam’s apple.

Pukui staggered back.

Ryan grabbed Lily. Dragged her away from the edge.

Pukui doubled over, gasping. His face was just a mouth hole gaping in the deepening dusk.

Another shot rang out.

Pukui spun. Dropped to his back.

Blood foamed from his mouth and oozed from his chest.

One leg flexed in spasm. His hips bucked.

Before Ryan could move, Pukui rolled and dropped over the cliff.