four dogs charging them, Kitiona broke loose at their surprise. The dogs delayed the men long enough for her to escape into the jungle behind her village.
Shortly after that incident, Kitiona left American Samoa for the big city. She needed to continue her investigation into the fire that killed her family. Besides, she suspected that eventually her search would end up at Amerastar's corporate headquarters. She didn’t count on seeing the same two menacing men again. Dodging these two was getting tiresome.
She had to get the few things out of the Chinatown apartment. She knew the men chasing her would be watching it. She also knew that these two guys were getting information from sources beyond her control. They were connected enough to find her new identify and where she lived.
Kitiona didn't bring much from her island home. The fire has destroyed most of her belongings. But what she did bring was valuable to her. After fast forwarding through several plans, she settled on her Salvation Army idea.
Her rent had been paid to the end of the month, so Kitiona believed the apartment manager would cooperate. She sent him a text message. She asked him to call the Salvation Army and have them pick up her belongings. She gave him the name and number of a specific Salvation Army manager.
Salvation Army manager's name was Frederick. He liked to be called Freddy. Kitiona prearranged with Freddy to donate her meager furnishings to the Salvation Army. In addition, he would make a little cash for himself. In turn Freddy would pick up her belongs and bring them back to the center. There she would take what she needed and leave the rest.
Freddy made the pickup that afternoon. While he noticed a black Ford SUV parked across the street, he paid it and the two men sitting inside, no mind. Freddy went about his business. Once all Kitiona's belongings were loaded, he drove off to make another pickup.
Kitiona watched the job from the corner deli. She was eating a sandwich and drinking iced tea. She disguised herself with a pair of fake glasses, a Giants baseball cap and a Forty-niners windbreaker. She looked like every other college kid in the City eating lunch.
She spied the same black Ford SUV as Freddy. She recognized them as the two men who chased her into the jungle and around Original Joe's.
One of the men had a square jaw line, flat-top hair and chewed up right ear. The other had glasses, a boxer's nose and ears and long curly, black hair, They were imposing and scary.
Kitiona watched the Salvation Army truck pull away. The black Ford SUV didn't budge. She let out a deep sigh. Then she wrapped up the rest of her sandwich, left a tip on the table and walked out the door. She turned in the opposite direction of her old apartment and sped off on her 1991 Honda Shadow.
She cruised around the City, stopping to walk around Lombard Street to kill some time. A few hours later, she arrived at the Salvation Army center and found Freddy. She felt like hugging him, but didn't want to give him the wrong impression. So, instead she shook his hand. She asked him about her belongings.
Freddy responded. "They're over in that corner," he said pointing about 30 feet to his right.
She saw the pile and gave Freddy the rest of the $100 she promised him. He smiled. "A pleasure doin’ business with you.”
Chapter 10 The Pile
Kitiona walked over to the pile. She glanced back at Freddy. He was walking to the other side of the store. She was not interested in sharing some of her secrets with him or anyone else for that matter.
She looked at the bed, trunk, dresser, table and three chairs. These had represented home for her for the last five months. Just when she was getting familiar with her second-hand furnishings, her current nightmare started.
Kitiona began rummaging through her drawers. She found the CD copies of her notes. The original, ongoing notes she was gathering about her family's death were filed in Google docs.
She found the cigar-shaped wooden box in the dresser's bottom drawer. In it she kept her silver 'missile' USB digital pen recorder. The recorder held first hand testimony from those who witnessed the fire and about the two guys that chased her into the jungle.
At times like this she was thankful she had a safety deposit box. Kitiona rented a box in the Wells Fargo Bank on California Street. It contained her passport, an extra credit card, her 9mm Beretta Px4 Strom, 4 extra clips of ammonium and about $3,000 cash. After this last incident, she decided in the future to keep the Beretta on her and stash the CDs and recorder in the safety deposit box.
She packed the CDs, wooden box and the recorder pen into her backpack. She was in a hurry to be on the move. She started walking away when she suddenly remembered the gold 'ball' pendent. This pendent symbolizes her family's closeness and community solidarity.
Gruesome as the idea was, she kept the pendent close to her. The pendent was Jared's brainstorm. Jared was Kitiona's classmate and best male friend in high school. He took over his father's jewelry business during their senior year.
Jared had wanted to go to college in Australia. But, his father's arthritis progressed so rapidly he felt obligated to take over the business, Kapa's Jewelry. He had to help support the rest of the family, all five younger brothers and sisters.
Jared worked with his father since he was eight years old. At first, he would clean up the store. Then he became interested in the wax carvings that were casted into gold or silver objects. He asked his father if the wax could be carved into anything. His father wisely said. "Whatever you can imagine, you can carve into wax.”
From then on Jared became a carving maniac. He would carve little horses, flowers and mini spearheads. On and on his imagination shaped and carved.
His father kept an eye on his work. While critical at first, he recognized his son's talent. One day Kapa told his son that he was going to use one of his flowers to make a ring. Jared was pleased but felt anxious. He knew his father's high standards.
After casting and polishing the flower ring, Kapa showed the ring to Jared. Jared saw the proud look on his father's face and knew he had done good.
Jared was 11 years old and his father decided to start turning his son's flowers into rings and pendants. The flowers were so detailed and Kapa's refining techniques were so precise, that Kapa's Jewelry store became a tourist attraction.
Kapa began making custom jewelry products for visitors from all over the world. Jared even started to convert people's rough sketches into detailed wax patterns. Then his father would cast them into custom jewelry.
Jared knew Kitiona's heartache after the fire. Kitiona was alone. Her senior year in high school was supposed to be filled with happy family and community memories. Instead, it turned into a foggy series of events that when understood would eventually fuel Kitiona's desire for revenge.
Jared knew that Kitiona's parents both had gold on several of their front teeth. He told her to have the undertaker pull those gold teeth out and give them to him. He said he would make something in their memory. Kitiona was so unsettled that she blindly followed her close friend's instructions.
Jared melted the gold and created a symbol of oneness for Kitiona. Not only did it symbolize the oneness of her family but also the solidarity of her Samoan community. He fashioned a one-half inch gold ball with intricate Samoan symbols. Many of the same symbols were tattooed on Kitiona's back. He centered a chain-hole through the middle of the emblematic ball.
Kitiona was not sure what to think of Jared's
