another lead. Kulani saw Professor Valdemar back at Lihue Airport three weeks ago. Further, she’s reported an unmarked black helicopter coming and going just at dusk or dawn around the Na Pali Coast area, on the north side of the island.”
“Even though she doesn’t work for you anymore, it sounds like she keeps pretty good tabs on the island for you,” Dev said with a slight smile.
“Well,” Morgan hedged, “let’s put it this way. I was the one who contacted her. I sent the professor’s photo over the Internet to her. I asked if she’d seen him around the airport she flies out of, and she said she had. When I asked if she’d seen anything unusual by way of flights or airplanes, she mentioned the black helo.”
Intrigued, Dev asked, “So you think the professor is on Kauai right now and you want me to verify that?”
“Yes, and I want you to persuade Kulani to join you.” Morgan held up his hand in warning. “And before you say no, hear me out,” he growled. “This mission is going to absolutely take both of you. I’m choosing you because of your mountain climbing skills. I need her to help you because she has equal skills in climbing. Plus she knows those damned dangerous valleys where the professor’s lab is located and the sheer lava cliffs you’re going to have to climb down to get there, better than anyone.”
Morgan slowly stood up and turned around. Pulling down a screen, he pointed to the detailed map of Kauai pictured there. “These lava cliffs on the Na Pali Coast are twenty-two hundred feet high. They’re sheer, vertical faces with nothing but lichen, grass, moss, ferns and brush clinging to their surface. Kulani grew up climbing these cliffs. She knows them like the back of her hand. And she knows the Kalalau Valley, where we believe the professor has his lab hidden. We can’t go busting in there with a military force. If the professor is there, and he hears us coming, he’s liable to let loose some of that anthrax and put the entire island’s population at risk. I’m working with FBI headquarters, as well as with their field office located on the Big Island. We’ve got the green light to try and get in there and insert a team to verify the professor and his lab are there. If you can take ’em out, you’ll do it. Quickly, quietly and cleanly. I want Valdemar alive, if possible. We know he’s making enough anthrax for a top event. You and Kulani will stop him.”
Dev shook his head. “Morgan, I’ve climbed every mountain in North America. Climbing is a single sport.”
“No, it’s not. It’s teamwork between you and the others you’re roped with, and you know that.” He scowled. “Besides, I’ve got other problems. This mission is far from stable at the moment.”
“Oh?” Dev gazed down at Kulani’s photo. Damn, but she was a delicious-looking woman. And what a dichotomy she was—part goddess of the old Hawaiian culture, part modern-day woman and helicopter pilot. Hell, it would be worth taking the mission just to meet her, he thought, grinning to himself. Outwardly, he kept his expression carefully neutral and monitored because he knew Morgan could read a person like a book, quite literally sometimes.
Grumpily, Morgan said, “Kulani doesn’t want to take this mission.”
Dev couldn’t help himself; one corner of his mouth lifted—just a tad. That wouldn’t stop him from meeting her, however. She was too much of a looker not to check her out. Dev liked women. All kinds of women. But while he enjoyed them, he refused to get entangled—ever. After a good time, maybe some good, mutual loving, it was time to part company.
“That’s okay by me. I can handle a little rappelling down a cliff to get what you want.”
Morgan sighed. “It’s not that easy, Dev. Don’t you think, if it was, I’d tell you to undertake this mission alone? The sheer walls of lava that embrace these deep valleys on Kauai are unlike any other mountaineering challenge. That’s why you need Kulani.” Running his fingers through his hair, Morgan muttered, “And she refuses to help us. To help you.”
“It wouldn’t hurt for me to go and meet her. Maybe I can change her mind.” But Dev had other things in mind he’d rather persuade her to do, like have dinner with him. Hell, if he was going to undertake this mission in Kauai, he might as well go down and meet her.
“I hope,” Morgan said, leaning back in his chair and intently studying Dev, “that you can talk her into working with you. Use that considerable charm you’ve got to persuade her.”
“Morgan, I can’t promise you anything.” Dev wasn’t about to twist Kulani’s arm to work with him. He wouldn’t promise Morgan that. Dev Hunter worked alone and that was that. But there wouldn’t be any harm in meeting her.
Eyes narrowing, Morgan growled, “You will not go on this mission alone. If you can’t get Kulani to agree to it, you call it off and we’ll turn the problem over to the FBI.” Morgan held up his index finger. “We have one chance. And it involves two people or it’s a no-go. Do you understand?”
The heavy warning in Morgan’s voice put Dev on alert. He wondered if his boss was reading his mind. No, that was impossible. Closing his fists, he said, “I’ll do my best. That’s all I can tell you.”
Nodding, Morgan relaxed slightly. “Okay, you fly to Kauai, get in touch with Kulani and then let me know what goes down. If she’s not on board for this mission, then we’re out of it in a heartbeat.”
Rising, Dev smiled slightly. “I’ll do my best to charm her. Usually, women can’t resist me.”
“Kulani isn’t like most women you know,” Morgan warned. “She’s like a daughter to me. I admire her. I respect the hell out of her. Lately, life has dealt her a pretty rotten hand. You’re going to have your hands full, Hunter, and not like you think.”
Dev’s grin widened boyishly. “I just can’t imagine any woman turning me down. That hasn’t happened in so long I can’t remember the last time.”
Morgan chuckled. “I’ll give you an A for confidence, Hunter. There’s more info in the file you need to read up on. But do that on the flight to the islands. Be in touch.”
Dev nodded. He picked up the folder and placed the color photo of Kulani inside. “This assignment definitely has perks. I’m looking forward to persuading Ms. Dawson to work with us.”
Well, maybe that wasn’t exactly the truth, Dev admitted as he left the office. Kulani Dawson would make his life interesting, but he didn’t need her help going into that dinky little valley and finding the turncoat professor. He’d get as much information about the climb from Kulani as he could, without having to partner up with her. So, he’d mix wooing a pretty lady with a little business, and then head out on the mission alone. No woman was capable of the sustained and dangerous demands this mission would make on her. Anyway Morgan was just being overcautious, as usual.
Nope, dinner, definitely. But as to making Kulani his partner, that would never happen. Not ever.
Chapter Two
Kulani Dawson greeted the morning with dread. The phone call from Morgan Trayhern the night before had left her raw and hurting. As she moved around her bungalow, the bright orange-and-purple bird-of-paradise blooming outside the kitchen nook looked strong and resilient compared to how she felt as she prepared her coffee.
Normally, Kulani eagerly looked forward to the delicious quiet of this time of day. The bungalow lay at the end of a dirt road, a mile from the main highway that encircled most of the garden isle of Kauai. From the kitchen window of her home, which sat high atop a hill surrounded
